Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has declared Thursday and Friday as public holidays to enable residents of the state to travel to their various communities ahead of the Saturday local government elections.
The governor also announced restriction of vehicular movement from midnight on Friday, October 4 to 5pm on the election day.
Governor Fubara made the declaration in a statewide broadcast from Government House, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.
He said following the expiration of the three-year tenure of the chairmen and councilors of the 23 local government councils on June 17, 2023, he lawfully instituted caretaker committees to temporarily administer the councils pending when the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) would conduct the LG election in the state.
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The governor said as a move to entrench sustainable democracy and good governance in the country’s local government system, “the Supreme Court by its judgement in SC/CV/343/2024: A-G Federation v A-G Abia State and 35 Ors delivered on 11th July 2024 effectively outlawed the administration of our local government councils with unelected officers and made several orders including the immediate stoppage of statutory allocations to Local Government Councils without democratically elected local government councils.”
He said following Mr President’s intervention, the period for compliance with the Supreme Court’s judgment was graciously extended by three months, which will expire on October 31, 2024.
He said, “On the strength of these positive developments, I directed the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to take definite steps to conduct local government elections for the 23 local government councils of Rivers State.
“Acting per this directive the RSIEC has since fixed and concluded all arrangements to conduct the local government council elections on Saturday, 5th October 2024.
“The legal impetus of RSIEC to conduct the local government elections was further strengthened by the judgment of the Rivers State High Court in Suit No: PHC/2696/CS/2024 delivered on the 4th of September 2024, which positively directed the Governor of Rivers State, the Government of Rivers State and the RSIEC to conduct the scheduled local government elections on the 5th of October, 2025 using the 2023 Independent National Electoral Commission’s Voters Register already in the custody of RSIEC.
“As of today, RVSIEC has expressed and demonstrated concrete and verifiable capacity and readiness to conduct the 2024 Rivers State Local Government Elections on the 5th of October 2024.
“As of today, 17 out of 18 registered political parties, including the All Progressives Congress, have expressly and actively demonstrated their willingness to participate by filling candidates with RSIEC for the election.
“….To this end, I hereby declare Thursday and Friday, the 3rd and 4th of October 2024 as public holidays for citizens to travel to their communities and participate in the election.
“Furthermore, I hereby place a total restriction on vehicular and human movements into, within, and out of the State, and the Local Government Areas, from midnight of Friday 4th October 2024 to 5.00 p.m. on Saturday 5th October 2024, except for persons and vehicles valid identifications who are on election and other essential duties.
“The police and other security agencies have clear directives from the State’s Security Council to arrest and prosecute any person or group who attempts to violate the restriction on human and vehicular movements on election day.”
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