The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that the suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, members of the State House of Assembly, will be reinstated on September 18 to resume full governance and work in synergy with newly elected local government chairmen and councillors.
Wike stated this shortly after casting his vote at Ward 9, Unit 7, Rumuepirikom, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, during the local government elections on Saturday. He stressed that the return of both the governor and the assembly would help stabilise the state at the grassroots level.
The FCT Minister commended President Bola Tinubu for ensuring the timely conduct of the elections, noting that it prevented the imposition of caretaker committees in the state’s local councils. He reminded that the Supreme Court had abolished caretaker committees at the local government level.
He said “We have to thank Mr President for taking the bold step to make sure that this election is conducted, if the election is not conducted, you know that the Supreme Court has said there is nothing like a caretaker committee in local government, so if there are no elected people it means that funds will not come from the federation account to local government councils.
“That means that if the emergency rule is lifted and there is no local government election, we will still have the same problem, so now that the local government election is taking place, it means that there will be elected people and then they would be able to access funds directly from the federation account.
“Therefore everyone must rally round to support the conduct of this particular election in order to stabilize the grassroot level, by the time the state of emergency is lifted on the 18th of September, it means that the Governor and the state Assembly will come back, so without the local government, it would not have been complete.”
Also speaking after casting his ballot at his polling unit in Rumuigbo, Obio-Akpor LGA, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, adjudged the exercise to be the most peaceful election he had ever witnessed.
Okocha said: “This is unusual for the elections that I have participated in, nobody is pushing anybody, everywhere is calm, the voters came and voted for their candidates.
“The exercise started around 9 o’clock and it has been done turn by turn, as you can see others are waiting for their turn to vote. I just voted.”
He urged winners of the polls to prioritise development and serve with compassion.
“They are going to hold the fort for the people and they are expected to be people oriented, expected to dot the entire local government areas within their capacities and capabilities with infrastructural development and projects,” Okocha added.
In a similar vein, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairmanship Candidate for Obio-Akpor LGA, Dr. Gift Worlu, expressed delight at the large turnout of voters in his constituency, attributing it to the vigorous campaigns mounted before the elections.
Shortly after casting his vote at Ward 15, Unit 19, Ndudor Community, Choba, Worlu thanked the electorate for their support and urged them to sustain the momentum.
“We are happy that our people are out here performing their civic duty and I think this is a testament to the incredible campaign that we had, talking to our people about the need for us to come together to confront and defeat the many problems that confront us as a people.
“We are happy that we have this massive turnout of voters, it goes to show that our people understand that democracy cannot win if we don’t fight for it, so I want to thank our people for this show of support and understanding and to encourage them to keep up the tempo.”
But observations at Obio-Akpor LGA revealed a contrasting reality in some parts, where voter apathy was evident as several polling units recorded scanty voter presence.
In a related event, some youths were seen taking advantage of the deserted streets and major roads to play football.
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