Headlines
PDP Clears Rivers LG Poll, Opposition Kicks
Despite withdrawing from the ballot, the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State was allotted votes in Saturday’s Local Government Elections conducted by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.
Meanwhile, the People Democratic Party won all chairmanship and councillorship seats across the local government areas of the state.
The RSIEC Chairman, Justice George Omerejji (retd.), declared the results at the commission’s office in Port Harcourt on Sunday evening.
In some of the results announced, Omerejji declared the PDP winner of the Ahoada East Chairmanship contest with 35,483 votes, even as it also won the 13 wards of the LGA for the councillorship polls.
However, the APC that did not take part in the election got 84 votes.
Also, Omereji declared Dr Chidi Lloyd of the PDP the winner of the Emohua chairmanship seat with 93,980 votes, as the commission also declared the PDP winner of the 14 councillorship seat in the LGA.
In Etche, the PDP won the Etche chairmanship seat with 27, 883 votes and cleared the 18 seats of the wards, even as the party won the Gokana LGA chairmanship seat with 54,578 votes.
In Bonny LGA, the PDP won the chairmanship seat with 18,408 votes and swept all the 12 wards councillorship seats.
The party also won Asari Toru chairmanship with 63,727 votes and won all the 13 councillorship seats.
Mr Rowland Sekibo of the PDP won Akuku-Toru with 54, 883 votes for chairmanship while APC got 1.
Meanwhile, some opposition political parties accused RSIEC of bias and called for outright the cancellation of the poll.
They specifically all for cancellation of Ward 11, Abalama in Asari-Toru local government area of the state.
Candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Derego West told newsmen that RSIEC officials arrived the 31 polling units in the ward with fake result sheets.
This is as the Agent of the African Democratic Congress, Bestman Esperience, said, “There was no election because they refuse us to vote. PDP hijacked the result sheets in Analama, Ward 11.
But an agent of the PDP, Ofori Brown faulted the claims of rigging, saying the election was peaceful.
“I am a unit head, unit 8 and former coordinator for Governor Nyesom Wike. The election was peaceful and all is over. Everything was peaceful and they took the materials to the headquatwr in Buguma,” Brown added.
The Punch
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
