Protest broke out on Thursday at the Peoples Democratic Party’s secretariat in Port Harcourt in connection with the upcoming Local Government election.
Channels Television’s correspondent at the scene reported the massive presence of security officers at the PDP secretariat as protesters stormed the area in large numbers.
As of the time of filing this report, the large number of protesters had caused slow movement of vehicles on the road, as security officers struggled to control the crowd.
The protesters were later seen carrying placards and banners, chanting songs in protest, and running along the highway.
The protesters, who arrived in large numbers at the party’s secretariat, forced security operatives to step in to control the crowd and manage traffic congestion in the area, reports Channels Television.
The unrest follows growing concerns over the delay in the release of the 2023 Voters’ Register by the Independent National Electoral Commission to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in a ruling delivered on September 30, 2024, barred INEC from releasing the voters’ register to RSIEC due to legal challenges.
Despite the court ruling, Governor Siminalayi Fubara maintained that the election would go on as planned.
Fubara expressed confidence that the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling, which mandated that all states in the federation must have democratically elected local government executives, supports his position.
One of the displayed banners reads “TAI people say no to lawlessness. Say no to LGA election. RSIEC must obey court judgment. SIM must obey court judgment”.
This is as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it was yet to release the 2023 Voter Register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Johnson Alalibo, who spoke at a press briefing in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, said RSIEC had applied for the Register, but it was yet to be released to them because of administrative reasons.
Alalibo further confirmed that the Commission received the court judgment from Abuja barring the Commission from releasing the register.
The local government election is scheduled for October 5, 2024.
