Last Saturday’s local government in Rivers State election has continued to generate reactions from Residents of the state.
Speaking with our correspondent in Port Harcourt, the Convener of Rivers Peace Initiative, Mr. Obinna Ebogidi said the local government election was organized in order to avoid any vacuum in the local governance of the state.
While speaking on the outcome of the election, Mr Ebogidi said that in spite of all the challenges surrounding the polls, it was better than nothing and the state electoral commission relied on the specially gazetted powers of President Bola Tinubu to carry out the exercise
“There is a legal framework that has enabled him to go ahead with this election, Yes we are in a democracy, now there is a window for us to have this election so that there won’t be a vacuum when the Democratically elected governor returns to office.”
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Mr. Ebogidi who is also an expert in election monitoring stated that although the grievances of many people against the election were in order, there has to be a way to get the state back on track democratically even if it through an imperfect process.
” I feel the pulse of a lot of Rivers People. People who are not really happy that this happened under the current conditions. If you have been following our activities, you will see that we have always maintained that this process itself is not perfect. Most times we want to step in and run with a particular narrative without waiting for the judiciary to step in and give an interpretation.”
Despite people having divided opinions and some blaming the people for not turning out as expected for the election, it is expected that with conduct of local government elections in Rivers State, the stage is gradually being set for the return of the elected governor of the state, Sir Siminalayi Fubara and the Rivers State legislators.
