Author: Emmanuel Obe

…swears in Bipi, others as commissioners Rivers State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, has set up a commission of inquiry to investigate Monday’s attacks on local government headquarters in the state. A statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, said the commission of inquiry is headed by Hon. Justice I.R. Minakiri, and Mrs. Felicia Nwoke, Prof. Blessing Didia, Mr. Samuel Egbe, Ven. Alex Usifor, Mr. Uzor Ikenga and Mrs. Inyingi Brown as Secretary. The commission was inaugurated on Tuesday at Government House. The statement said the commission will investigate the arson, killings and wanting destruction of property…

Suspected political arsonists have set ablaze the secretariats of Eleme and Ikwerre Local Governments in Rivers State. The arsonists were said to have had access to the Eleme secretariat after the police that sealed the premises left on Sunday night, just before the new local government chairman, Chief Brain Gokpa ,and the councillors were due to start work. Images from Isiokpo showed billows of smoke emanating from the main building of Ikwerre Local pvernment secretariat on Monday. The main building of Eleme secretariat was completely burnt and looted while the annexes that have the office of the chairman and the…

Uzodinma Nwafor of Action Alliance has been declared winner of last Saturday’s Chairmanship election in Etche local government area. In the result released on Saturday by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RISIEC, Uzodinma Nwafor defeated other candidates to emerge winner of the holy contested election. The result of Etche had been suspended on Saturday following delay in the completion of the processes. With Uzodinma’s election, the 23 local government areas now have elected Chairmen. The other 22 chairmen were sworn in by Governor Siminalayi Fubara at Government House earlier on Sunday. Names of the other elected Chairmen are: Vincent…

The Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, will swear in Chief Brain Gokpa as Chairman of Eleme Local Government and the newly elected chairmen of 21 local governments that were elected on Saturday. According to a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, the new council chairmen would be sworn in at Government House at 4pm. They were expected to take along with them one guest each. The chairmen, their deputies and councillors were elected on Saturday during the local government elections in the state. They were all elected on the platform of the Action…

The Action Peoples Party, APP, has won 22 out of the 23 chairmanship elections in Saturday’s local government elections. The Chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, who disclosed on Saturday in Port Harcourt however said that the remaining the collation process for Etche local government area was stood down because of the expansive landscape and 19 wards the area has. The results of Etche’s chairmanship position as well as the 319 Ward councillorship positions of the 23 Local Government Areas will be declared when the collation process is concluded, Enebeli said. APP is the party…

The local government election in Rivers State on Saturday was generally peaceful despite the tension that preceded it.Though the police had said they would not participate in the election in compliance with a federal high court order, convoys of armed policemen were moving along the East-West Road. They did not venture into voting areas.Isolated cases of violence were recorded in a few places like All Progressives Congress factional office along Aba Road in Port Harcourt, where an explosive was reported to have been thrown at the building.A case of violence was also reported at Igwuruta in Ikwerre Local Government Area,…

The South-South Zonal Chairman of the Labour Party, Prince Favour Reuben, and the Rivers State Chairman of the party, Hilda Dokubo have expressed divergent views about the credibility of the October 5 local government election. While Dokubo said the election was peaceful and credible, Reuben said the election was hijacked by things and government agents. Dokubo, who voted at Asari Toru Local Government Area, said from how the election was conducted, there was no reason for anyone to protest against the election. “Participating in the election was the right thing to do to move forward,” she told Classic FM. She…

Austin Opara, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State has condemned what he said has been the role of the police in the current political crisis in Rivers State. Speaking on Saturday’s local government election in the state, the former House of Representatives’ deputy speaker said it was a constitutional breach for the police to recuse themselves from the election. He however commended the general peaceful conduct of the election, which he said was “very peaceful and massive in my area in Port Harcourt”. Opara said the police…

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has assured the people of the state that the local government elections scheduled for Saturday, October 5, 2024 is “sacrosanct” and nothing will stop it.The governor gave the assurance Friday morning during a press conference he called at Government House to respond to the reported police invasion of the state office of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission in the early hours of Friday, October 4. Fubara, who said he had to personally intervene to stop the police from “stealing” sensitive election materials, condemned the action of the police and wondered what interest they were pursuing…

Thousands of supporters of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday staged a protest march in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, against the local government elections holding in the state on Saturday. The protesters, who are largely members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, marched according to their local government areas and caused traffic jams along Aba Road, the main artery of the city. They called on the Chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RISIEC, Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli, and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to obey the Abuja High Court order, which directed that…