The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members will contest the Rivers State Local Government Election on the platform of Action People’s Party, APP, checks by THE WHISTLER have revealed. Chairman of the APP in Rivers State, Sunny Wokekoro confirmed the development in an exclusive interview with THE WHISTLER......READ THE FULL STORY>>.....READ THE FULL STORY>>
The election is scheduled for October 5, 2024.
There are indications that the PDP will not participate in the election. The party’s leadership in Rivers State is believed to be in the camp of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister Nyesom Wike, who is locked in a supremacy battle with his successor, Governor Sim Fubara.
Fubara moved to hold the LG polls after the expiration of the tenure of the council chairmen installed by Wike.
Analysts believe that the conduct of the LG election is part of Fubara’s moves to take control of the political structure in Rivers State by having his loyalists in charge of the local councils.
Some of the immediate past LG chairmen had to be forced out of office by Fubara’s supporters after they went to court to extend their tenure in office.
In an exclusive interview with THE WHISTLER, Wokekoro, who revealed plans to persuade Fubara to join the APP, said the Rivers PDP leadership’s refusal to participate in the LG election is one of the reasons some PDP members moved to the APP.
He said PDP members who desire to contest chairmanship and councillor positions are set to actualize their ambition on the platform of the APP.
Referring to the recent explosion at the APP secretariat in Port Harcourt, Wokekoro noted that violence cannot stop the party from taking control of Rivers State.
“One of the reasons we took this bold step (movement of some PDP members to APP) is because the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has come up with the timetable for LG chairmanship and councillorship elections and PDP did not find any wisdom in that decision and has told everybody clearly that they are not going to participate in the election.
“Most of our supporters out there, most of our people are desirous of contesting the councillors and chairmanship elections, and if the party they belong to (PDP) has cut short that process, where do you think they will exercise their ambition and all that?
“So we (APP) are providing them the platform with which they can actualize their ambition in a civilised atmosphere.
“We hope that those who are threatened by our presence will understand that violence leads no one to anywhere and is an ill wind that blows no one any good,” Wokekoro told THE WHISTLER.
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, had at a stakeholders meeting on July 1, 2024, announced October 5, 2024, as the date for local government elections in the state.
The development followed the expiration of the tenure of the chairmen of the 23 local government areas in the state.
However, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, shunned the stakeholders meeting where the election date was announced, a development that indicated that the two parties would not take part in the council polls.
With Wike romancing the APC, being a key member of the APC-led Federal Government, while also controlling the PDP in Rivers, and the rejection of the planned LG elections by the two parties is seen as part of the face-off between him and the governor, Fubara.
However, Rivers State Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Solsuema Osaro, has affirmed that even in the absence of the APC and PDP, the other 17 political parties in the state would participate in the LG election.
IPAC is the umbrella body of the registered political parties in Nigeria, which are currently 19 in number.
Speaking after the July 1 stakeholders meeting, the Rivers IPAC chairman, who is also the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the state, said, “Seventeen parties were at the stakeholders meeting. I want to thank the Governor, His Excellency Sir Siminalayi Fubara, for his determination to allow for the conduct of the elections. APC and the PDP were not in the meeting. We don’t know why they were not there.
“But I can assure you that the 17 parties at the meeting will gladly participate in the election.”
