Some suspected loyalists of Rivers Governor, Sim Fubara, had chased away policemen deployed in the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RISIEC) office ahead of the controversial local government elections billed for Saturday. The armed policemen were seen in a viral video being booed and called names such as “thieves” as they maneuvered their vehicles out of the facility on Friday. They were brought into the office premises on trucks and patrol vans but the crowd compelled them to make a u-turn.

It was gathered Governor Similanya Fubara, some officials of the State Government and some members of the House of Assembly stormed the facility following the incident. A statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS) said the Governor foiled an attempt by the Police, led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), to take over RSIEC at 1am on Friday, 4th October, 2024.

The statement said the policemen attempted to scale the gates and strong room of the commission to cart away sensitive electoral materials meant for the conduct of Saturday’s local government election in the state. He accused the Inspector-General of Police of ordering the deployment but said they were botched when vigilant security officials alerted principal officers of the commission and relevant government authorities, who immediately informed the governor of the development.

The statement said the Governor immediately led a team of government officials, lawmakers from the National Assembly, Rivers Assembly, top political stakeholders and other leaders to storm the facility. Fubara condemned the conduct of the policemen on illegal duty, saying that the IGP was taking his friendship with some Abuja-based politicians too far.

He restated the position that the attempt to surreptitiously withdraw policemen already deployed to protect the facility, and replace them with a detachment from a neighbouring state was unacceptable. He reminded the IGP that local government election was the internal affairs of states, and advised him to allow the federation unit conduct its affairs without interference.

The statement further said that the Chief of Staff, Rivers Speaker and State and National Assembly members with other stakeholders, were manning the RSIEC office to ensure that the policemen in two trucks and two Hilux vehicles did not return and that elections would go ahead as scheduled on Saturday.

Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party members loyal to Wike and a faction of the All Progressives Congress led by Chief Tony Okocha (also a known Wike’s loyalist), had earlier announced their decision to withdraw from the election, citing irregularities and a lack of due process by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.

However, the APC faction loyal to former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, led by Emeka Beke, maintained its participation, handing over party flags to candidates in 22 of the 23 local government areas in the state. The Okocha-led APC faction had taken legal action against the RSIEC at the Federal High Court in Abuja, resulting in a temporary injunction that prevents the Independent National Electoral Commission from releasing the voter register for the election.

The court also restrained security agencies, including the police and the Department of State Services, from providing security for the exercise. Despite the legal hurdles, the RSIEC expressed its readiness to conduct the election on Saturday, claiming to have access to the voter register, contrary to INEC’s position.

On Thursday, prominent PDP politicians and thousands of their supporters took to the streets to protest against the planned conduct of the election by RSIEC. But Fubara insisted that the state’s local government election scheduled for Saturday, October 5, will proceed, despite protests from loyalists of his predecessor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The governor warned against any attempts by groups or individuals to disrupt the electoral process, emphasising that he would not tolerate any actions aimed at creating confusion or instability in the state. Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House, Governor Fubara criticised the protesters, acknowledging that he was also at a disadvantage because his party (the PDP) was not participating in the election.