RISIEC, Rescind The Illegal Timetable

Still deep in the controversies surrounding its appointment and inauguration, the board of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RISIEC) on Monday, July 28th, 2025 unveiled what it called a revised timetable for the 2025 local government council elections in Rivers State.
In it, RISIEC fixed the election of council chairmen and councilors for the 30th of August, 2025. In doing so, it cancelled the previous date of the election, August 9th, that was fixed by the dissolved board headed by Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli (Rtd.)
Expectedly, the new timetable has attracted wide rejection by the people, lawyers, civil society and even the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The period the revised timetable gives for candidates and their sponsoring political parties has been criticized as being too tight to prepare for any meaningful general election. There are already complaints that candidates are being handpicked by political party leaders to represent the parties, a situation that defeats the essence of adopting internal democracy by the parties to pick their candidates.
Most fundamentally, the new RISIEC timetable failed to meet constitutional, legal and legitimate thresholds set by the Electoral Act and the RISIEC Law that provided set timelines for the local government elections. This aspect was very well stated by the Chairman of the INEC, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, who in his official reaction, declared that the timetable, particularly the 21 days notice given by RISIEC before the election not only contravened the law, it also violated the Supreme Court judgment, which a few months ago nullified local government elections conducted by RISIEC because the statutory 90 days notice issued before an election was not met.
To borrow the words of the INEC Chairman, it is practically impossible for political parties to conduct primaries, nominate candidates, organize campaigns and get ready for election within the short time that RISIEC has provided. If RISIEC goes through with its arrangement, the implications would be tragic for democracy. It will get candidates nominated without passing them through democratic primaries, whether direct or indirect. This defeats the essence of democracy, which seeks to guarantee that the people elect those who run their affairs. It also shrinks the democratic space and denies the people either by themselves or through their representatives their right to install their own government and hold them to account for their stewardships.
It is therefore reckless and lawless to go ahead with the timelines that RISIEC has set given the odds sticking against them. The question might just be why is the commission in such a desperate haste to conduct Local Government elections when the six months suspension of the Governor and House of Assembly would soon run out and formal democratic structures restored in Rivers State for the council elections?
It is not too late for RISIEC to retrace its steps and cancel the process it has initiated and take steps to comply with all the established laws and regulations guiding the conduct of local government elections. There should be an end to lawlessness.