Ahead of the local government elections in Rivers State slated for this Saturday, Governor Siminalayi Fubara has declared two days of public holiday.
The governor said the two-day holiday fixed for October 3 and 4 is to enable voters travel to their various communities to exercise their civic rights in taking part in the elections.
Fubara made the declaration in a state-wide broadcast to the people of the state on Wednesday.
“We are leaving no stone unturned to enable all registered voters to travel to their communities to participate and peacefully exercise their civic responsibility at their polling units.
“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”, he stated.
He also placed 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 with valid identifications who are on election and other essential duties.
The governor further stated that 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.
The elections follows the expiration of the three-year tenure of the Chairmen and Councilors of the 23 Local Government Councils on the 17th of June 2023, after which Fubara had instituted Caretaker Committees to administer the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
The Supreme Court had in a judgement in July outlawed the administration of the state’s local government councils with unelected officers and ordered the stoppage of statutory allocations to Local Government Councils without democratically elected local government councils.
The tenures of the local government chairmen was however extended by three months following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu
The local government election is seen as another battle between Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesome Wike to take control of the political structure of the state, and a great number of the sacked local government chairmen were Wike’s loyalists.
Both men have been in a long-drawn battle to control the state, a fight that has torn the state house of assembly apart.
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