The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the chairmanship in 20 of the 23 local government areas (LGAs) contested in Saturday’s Rivers State Chairmanship and Councillorship elections, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) announced on Sunday.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the remaining three LGAs.
RSIEC chairman Dr Michael Odey declared the results at the commission’s headquarters on Aba Road, Port Harcourt.
He said winners of the vice-chairmanship contests had been declared, while results of the councillorship elections were still being collated as at press time.
“I assure you that RSIEC will remain impartial, transparent, and professional in discharging its mandate. Mechanisms have been put in place to guarantee that every vote counts and that results reflect the genuine will of the people of Rivers State,” Dr Odey told journalists.
The result represents a dramatic re-ordering of Rivers State’s political map.
The APC’s sweep included wins in several areas hitherto regarded as PDP territory; the PDP retained Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpor and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni. Reports indicate Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s home LGA, Opobo-Nkoro, was won by the APC.
Saturday’s election was held under exceptional circumstances. In March, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a six-month state of emergency in Rivers State and appointed Vice-Admiral (retd.) Ibok-Ete Ibas as sole administrator.
The proclamation followed months of political turmoil in the state and disputes between the governor and the state assembly.
The polls also came after the Supreme Court voided the 5th October 2024 Rivers LGA elections, ruling that certain provisions of the Electoral Act had not been complied with. That judgement created a legal and political precedent that coloured the planning around the 30 August rerun.
State authorities and observers gave mixed reports on the conduct of the election. The state administrator, Vice-Admiral Ibas, monitored the exercise and described it as “peaceful and orderly”, adding that the conduct of voters and officials produced a calm and secure atmosphere.
At the same time, reporters and civil-society bodies recorded logistic problems and signs of voter apathy in many urban wards. Multiple outlets noted the late arrival of polling materials and long periods in which some polling units lay idle; turnout was said to be higher in some riverine and rural communities than in parts of Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor.
Civil-society monitors also raised procedural concerns. Observers from Yiaga Africa and other groups questioned the non-compulsory use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in several locations. This, they argued, affects the perceived quality of the process and is tethered to the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling.
The conduct and result of the polls cannot be divorced from recent events in Rivers State politics.
Several reports said that Governor Siminalayi Fubara and some of his loyalists did not actively participate in voting on the day, an absence variously attributed to the political truce brokered with former governor and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, or to Fubara’s temporary absence from the state.
Mr Wike, who retains substantial influence in the state, framed the elections as clearing the way for the end of the emergency.
“So, having done this, then the coast is clear for the state of emergency to be lifted, being that the state government has its representative and the local government has its representatives, so we are good to go,” he told reporters after voting.
He and others have suggested that Governor Fubara and the state House of Assembly could return when the emergency elapses on 18 September.
At the same time, civil groups challenged the legality of holding the council polls during an emergency. Rivers indigenes and several civil-society actors had earlier taken legal steps to stop the election.
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