•Protesters want RSIEC, DSS, Police to obey court order
•Election must not hold, PDP insists
Thousands of protesters on Thursday staged a peaceful demonstration against the Saturday local government election in Rivers State.
The anti-LG election protesters who defied Thursday downpour, emphasized in their placards that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), should obey the court order restraining it from conducting the October 5 council poll.
The protesters suspected to be supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and factional All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Tony Okocha, took to the streets in protest against the planned council port.
Among party loyalists in the protest were state chairman, Chukwuemeka Aaron, former state party chairman, Amb. Desmond Akawor, former Chief of Staff to Nyesom Wike, Emeka Woke, National Assembly lawmakers and other notable party chieftains, including the immediate past local government chairmen.
They took off from the party secretariat along Aba Road and marched to the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Police headquarters, Moscow Road, in Port Harcourt, and retired at the PDP secretariat.
Chanting slogans supporting the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, the protesters also called on security agencies not to support RSIEC, but obey the order of an Abuja Federal High Court.
They chanted “Under the rain, under the sun, we will follow Wike,” and “No election in Rivers State,” while inscriptions on some of their placards read: “RSIEC obey court order,” “Rivers State is not lawless,” and “Police and Army must not support RSIEC.”
The protesters emphasized that, “To avoid mayhem, and for peace to reign, in Rivers State, Rivers State Government, and the RSIEC must obey the Federal High Court judgment.”
“Saturday LG election must not be held. We are law-abiding and we are not participating in the election.”
Earlier, the PDP, alongside the Tony Okocha-led All Progressives Congress, had announced their boycott of the October 5 poll, claiming that RSIEC did not follow due process for the conduct of council elections.
But, the factional APC led by Emeka Beke, loyal to former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, had announced their participation in the election, alleging that Okocha is not an official of the party.
Beke stated that APC, which he leads, is the authentic party in the state being recognized by a Rivers State High Court.
He explained that APC has candidates for the Saturday election, had given their chairmanship candidates flags to represent the party.
Meanwhile, briefing journalists later at the PDP secretariat, Aba Road, State chairman of the party, Chukwuemeka Aaron, stressed that both INEC and security agencies should obey court orders against the election.
Aaron stated: “So, we as a law-abiding party and citizens that believe in the rule of law decided to take the letter to the police to tell them that we are not going to watch them conduct the election on that day because no one man is bigger than the law.
“We believe in the rule of law and we want everyone to comply with that judgement that said that the election should not be held on Saturday. That’s why we went to the Police and DSS to express our feelings.
“It was a peaceful protest; we went and came back. There was no destruction, there was no fight; we came back and people were jubilating. And they have gone back to their different local governments to wait for further instructions from the party.
“We didn’t go to INEC because yesterday, INEC came out to tell the public that they have never at any given time released voters’ registers to RSIEC. The REC said it yesterday (Wednesday); that’s why we didn’t go to INEC.
“If they do not do their work, we will not allow them to do the election because we want peace in Rivers State. We are law-abiding citizens. We must obey court orders. That election must not be held.”
