‘Police officers’ fire teargas, disrupt Rivers LG polls

‘Police officers’ fire teargas, disrupt Rivers LG polls

Police officers, on Saturday, disrupted the local government
election at Elekahia Primary School, Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital.

 

About 20 patrol vans carrying heavily armed personnel
reportedly arrived at the scene, with the officers firing teargases into the
premises of the primary school where the voting exercise was underway.

 

Earlier, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission
(RSIEC) commenced distribution of sensitive materials to LGAs for the conduct
of the election.

 

In the early hours of Saturday, voting commenced in several
LGAs, with voters casting ballots in some polling units while others awaited
election materials’ arrival.



An explosion reportedly rocked the secretariat of the All
Progressives Congress faction led by Tony Okocha, the ex-chairman of the APC
caretaker committee in the state, hours before commencement of the election.

 

BACKGROUND

 

There has been palpable tension in Rivers due to the
prolonged turf war between Siminalayi Fubara, the governor, and Nyesom Wike,
minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).

 

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On September 30, a federal high court in Abuja barred the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the 2023 voter
register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).

 

The court also barred the inspector-general of police and
the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the
exercise.

 

On October 2, INEC said it had not released the voter
register to RSIEC for the conduct of the election, in deference to the judgment
of the federal high court.

 

On October 3, a crowd besieged the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, to protest
against the planned local government election.

 

However, Fubara vowed to proceed with the election.

 

On Friday, Fubara arrived at RSIEC office in Port Harcourt
over claim that police officers wanted to stop the election.

 

Police operatives had barricaded the facility where
electoral materials are kept.

 

Fubara said the presence of police officers at the RSIEC
premises was unnecessary, accusing the IGP of taking orders from Wike to
truncate the election.

 

Reacting to Fubara’s comments, the NPF said its actions in
Rivers conformed with the judgment of the federal high court.

Source: ‘Police officers’ fire teargas, disrupt Rivers LG polls

 - NigerianEye

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