In late 2020, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) announced that the local government election would hold on Saturday, April 17, 2021.
A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Igo Aguma, declared that the party would participate in the poll.
However, the APC leadership both at the federal and state declared their position not to participate in the election, saying it would be far from being free and fair.
To know how prepared the Aguma-led faction of the party was for the election, the chairman of RSIEC, Justice George Omereji (rtd), visited the factional secretariat of the party where he met with stakeholders.
With the upturning of the a High Court judgement which declared Aguma as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC in the state, the faction appointed a former member of the House of Assembly, Hon. Golden Ben Chioma, as the new leader of the faction and he continued the preparations to ensure that APC members participated in the poll.
Chioma, in a statement, encouraged members of the party who were interested in running for offices to pick forms from the party’s factional secretariat.
The statement said; “We call on esteemed members of the APC in Rivers State who consider themselves worthy to come forward to pick up forms for both councillorship and chairmanship categories in the 319 Wards and 23 LGAs to contest as announced by the RSIEC.
“APC members across the state are by this statement urged to be actively involved by participating. We must make the best of this golden opportunity to shake off the toga of never-do-wells as have been the case in the past.
“APC Rivers State has not only come to stay but must move away from our inglorious past, when we did not plan adequately for elections due to the actions of one man. This time around we shall not only participate but must also strive to win seats in the wards and local government councils.
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“On this note, I call on Mr. Isaac Ogbobula, a perpetual imposter, surrogate and so-called chairman of an aggrieved group loyal to the selfish, self-serving political interest of Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, the godfather, to stop deceiving and misleading party faithful in the state.
“This group led by the godfather of APC Rivers State has a penchant for creating false hope for unsuspecting members of our dear party with the aim of continually and perpetually putting their political future in abeyance.
“This evil must stop now because APC is a political party with a primary duty to contest elections and not a social club that ends up with meetings, airport receptions for the minister, birthday parties, thanksgivings and burial ceremonies.”
At the end of the day, the faction announced that it would be fielding chairmanship and councillorship candidates in no fewer than 17 out of the 27 local government areas in the state.
However, reacting to the Supreme Court judgement that recognised Ogbogbula as the authentic caretaker committee chairman of the party in the state, the former senator representing Rivers South-East district in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, declared that it was only RSIEC that decides whether screened and cleared candidates of the APC would participate in the election.
Abe said by the provisions of the Electoral Act, the party cannot withdraw the candidates from participating in the election.
He said: “My own calculation as a lawyer is that the decision of participation in the election was taken by the Aguma-led exco at a time it was a legal exco of the party and these candidates have been screened and cleared by RSIEC.
“So their ability to contest or not to contest the election no longer rests with the party, it is now with RSIEC. That is the legal angle but politically, there is nothing I can say now.
“Legally, if your name has been submitted, you are screened and cleared, under the Electoral Act which I understand it is possible for even the political party to recall you. The only person who can withdraw is yourself.”
Abe, who announced the closure of all factional secretariats of the party in the state, said as law abiding citizens of Nigeria, members of the party had accepted the outcome of the Supreme Court judgement.
The senator said: “On Friday, March 4, 2021, the Supreme Court of Nigeria handed down a series of Judgments on the lingering crises in the Rivers State chapter of the APC.
“As law abiding citizens with faith in our country, its Constitution and institutions, we accept the judgment of the Supreme Court in good faith.”
But, the leadership of APC in the state threatened to take RSIEC to court if it goes ahead to put the party’s logo on the ballot in the election.
A former acting national chairman of the party, Chief Victor Giadom, said the APC had made it clear that it would not participate in the election in the state.
Giadom said: “Let me say it clearly here that our party will not participate in the local government election in Rivers State, the one purported for April.
“We know that election will not bring justice to anybody. There will be no fair opportunity for people to contest that election. So, we are not participating.
“By next week we are going to write RSIEC and for any reason RSIEC attempts to put our name on that ballot, we will charge them to court and claim damages from them because we are not participating in that election.”
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