The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has fixed Saturday, May 23, 2015, for the conduct of chairmanship and councillorship elections in 22, out of the 23 local government areas of the state.
RSIEC chairman, Prof. Augustine Ahiaizu, who announced the development to newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday, said election will not hold in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area of the state. Ahiaizu stated that the commission was relying on the State Independent Electoral Law No.2 of 2001 as amended and State Local Government Law No.3 of 1999 as amended, to conduct the election.
He said political parties were eligible to sponsor candidates for the election, provided that they completed and submitted an expression of interest form to participate in the election on or before April 24, 2015.
The RSIEC chairman stated that the commission had concluded arrangements with security agencies to ensure free and fair elections on May 23, 2015.
Ahiaizu said, “The security agencies will take care of security and ours will be to conduct the election.’’
The chairman said the period for the election was not short because it had 32 days to carry out the exercise.
He said, “The law requires us to use 21 days to conduct the election . We have more days and we are within the law. Our activities are law based and we cannot go outside the law.”
Reacting to the announcement by RSIEC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, said plans by the state government to conduct local government election without following the stipulated laws is an exercise in futility.
Chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Felix Obuah, said the party opposed moves to conduct local government elections , Few days to the expiration of its tenure.
Source: Leadership
