Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has declared Thursday, October 3 and Friday, October 4 as public holidays to enable residents travel to their various communities to participate in the October 5 local government elections.

The governor also announced restrictions of vehicular movement from midnight on Friday, October 4 to 5pm on the election day.

Fubara made the declarations during a statewide broadcast at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

Fubara said the local government elections became necessary following the expiration of the three-year tenure of the chairmen and councilors of the 23 local government councils on June 17, 2023.

He said he lawfully instituted caretaker committees to temporarily administer the 23 local government areas pending when the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) would conduct the elections.

He said the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on July 11, 2024 effectively outlawed the administration of local government councils with unelected officers and made several orders including the immediate stoppage of statutory allocations to local government councils without democratically elected officials.

He said: “Following Mr President’s intervention, the period for compliance with the Supreme Court’s judgment was graciously extended by three months, which will expire on the 31st of October 2024.

“On the strength of these positive developments, I directed the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to take definite steps to conduct local government elections for the 23 local government councils of Rivers State.

“Acting on this directive the RSIEC has since fixed and concluded all arrangements to conduct the Local Government Council election on Saturday, October 5, 2024.”

Fubara highlighted the legal impetus of RSIEC to conduct the local government elections saying it was further strengthened by the judgment of the Rivers State High Court delivered on September 4, 2024.

He said the judgment positively directed the Governor of Rivers State, the Government of Rivers State and the RSIEC to conduct the scheduled local government elections on the 5th of October 2025 using the 2023 Independent National Electoral Commission’s Voters’ register already in the custody of RSIEC.

He said: “As of today, RSIEC has expressed and demonstrated concrete and verifiable capacity and readiness to conduct the 2024 Rivers State Local Government Elections on the 5th of October 2024.

“As of today, 17 out of 18 registered political parties, including the All Progressives Congress, have expressly and actively demonstrated their willingness to participate by filling candidates with RSIEC for the election.

“As of today, over 10 States in Nigeria have conducted local government council elections using the 2023 INEC Voters’ Register since the Supreme Court’s judgment and Rivers State cannot be an exception.

“As the Governor of Rivers State, I swore to uphold the Constitution of Nigeria and abide by the rule of law and the principles of democracy.

“Any failure on our part to conduct the Local Government election would be a clear disobedience of the Supreme Court’s mandatory order that no State Government must administer the Local Government Councils in Nigeria with unelected officers with the attendant consequence of the State and the people being denied the statutory allocations due to the 23 local government areas of the State.

“The Rivers State Government would also be acting in contempt of the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State in Suit No: PHC/2696/CS/2024, which restrains the Governor, the State Government, and RSIEC from scuttling the conduct of the local government elections scheduled for October 5th, 2024.”

Fubara insisted that on the strengths of the provisions of the Constitution as amended, the Supreme Court Judgment and the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State, the government remained irrevocably committed to conducting the election.

“Any failure on our part to conduct the local government election would be a clear disobedience of the Supreme Court’s mandatory order that no State Government must administer the local government councils in Nigeria with unelected officers with the attendant consequence of the State and the people being denied the statutory allocations due to the 23 local government areas of the State.

“The Rivers State Government would also be acting in contempt of the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State in Suit No: PHC/2696/CS/2024, which restrains the governor, the State Government, and RSIEC from scuttling the conduct of the local government elections scheduled for October 5th, 2024.″

Fubara insisted that on the strengths of the provisions of the Constitution as amended, the Supreme Court Judgment and the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State, the State government remains irrevocably committed to conducting the election.

The governor said: “Against these backgrounds, I wish to assure every resident that the election for the 23 Local Government Councils in Rivers State shall be held on Saturday 5th October 2024 throughout the State.

“The State Government has provided the necessary funds and logistics for RSIEC, which has assured me that it is fully prepared and ready to conduct and deliver a fair, free, and credible local government council election as scheduled.

“Therefore, I wish to advice and request all registered voters to go to their polling units to exercise their franchise by voting for the candidates of their choice, as security personnel would be there to maintain order and ensure peaceful polls as a matter of constitutional duty.

“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.

“Furthermore, I hereby place 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 pm on Saturday 5th October 2024, except for persons and vehicles valid identifications who are on election and other essential duties.”

Fubara said the police and other security agencies had clear directives from the State’s Security Council to arrest and prosecute any person or group attempting to violate the restriction on human and vehicular movements on election day.

The governor said appreciated the State’s Security High Command for their cooperation and commitment to effectively secure the state and ensure peaceful trouble-free local government elections.

“As citizens, we all owe our State the commitment to support the RSIEC to succeed in delivering on its constitutional duty to conduct a free, fair, and credible local government council election to usher in a new set of democratically elected leaders to administer the 23 local government councils,” the governor said.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has denied attacking the October 1 protesters in Abuja.

The rebuttal was conveyed through a statement by the spokesperson of the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh, in Abuja.

Adeh said the operatives only took proactive measures to prevent looting, adding it was necessary to address the allegation following reports that policemen attacked protesters at Utako Market in Abuja earlier on Tuesday during the protest.

She urged Nigerians to disregard the “misleading and mischievous information”, stressing that the command is committed to ensuring the safety of the citizens in the exercise of their civil rights.

Earlier reports claimed that the police operatives fired teargas at protesters in Abuja, during the #FearlessInOctober protest over bad governance.

“The command wishes to categorically debunk the narrative, tagging it completely false and misleading.

“Acting on intelligence, the operatives only took measures to forestall miscreants who were taking advantage of the protest to loot shops in the market and as a result, extended focus to them.

“As a responsible agency, we could not stand by and allow traders to be robbed of their hard-earned money and belongings without intervening,” the statement added.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has vowed to down tools after the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum issued the Federal government to meet its demands.

Briefing journalists, in Calabar, the Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Calabar zone, Comrade Happiness Uduk, who read a joint statement by all chairpersons of the zone, warned that the Federal government should be held responsible for the breakdown of industrial harmony, which might arise from its indifference towards their plight.

“Our Union will withdraw services, and should not be held responsible for the breakdown in industrial harmony which will arise as a result of the government’s insensitivity, insincerity, indifference and time-buying tactics.

“The Union calls on those in authority as well as their agents to seize this window to forestall the looming crisis.

“With a feeling of indignation, we regret to bore you with the cry of anger, frustration and unfulfilled promises that have tirelessly bedeviled our struggle and have been front-burnt for several years.

“The Calabar zone of ASUU has called this Press conference because of development or the lack of it, as regards our engagements with the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“As you are aware, in a letter dated 20th August 2024, the Union gave the government a 21-day ultimatum for the resolution of all the issues in contention since 2009.

“We categorically want to inform you that nothing tangible has changed safely for meetings and more meetings for which government agents were more concerned with receiving allowances for convening such meetings from tax-payers money, and the funds that our government claims it does not have.

“We are compelled, therefore, to address you, gentlemen of the Press on the latest development or otherwise because of the inevitable and impending industrial action to press home our demands.

“As men of the fourth (estate of) realm, to escalate the issues for those concerned to improve the already fragile industrial harmony in our tertiary institutions and save the education system from total collapse or risk yet another industrial action.

“Recall that in an open letter to the Federal government, our Union in a bid to ensure that this legacy struggle is achieved for the good of Nigerians and Nigeria, had mentioned ten (10) issues in contention including the conclusion of the re-negotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement based on the draft agreement by the Nimi Briggs committee in 2021, which is already out of date given the reality of the current Dollar/Naira ratio amongst others.

“The failure of governments to implement contents of several Memoranda of Understanding and Action between 2013 and 2022 has particularly hampered access to wholesome industrial harmony in public Universities especially as renegotiation has lingered for over seven years spanning the Babalakin-led team through Jubrin Munzali’s team and Emeritus Prof. Nimi Briggs’ committee.

“The last two concluded renegotiation but the government has not owned the said document nor implemented its contents. Since the inception of this government, all efforts to get them to adopt and implement the said agreement have been frustrated.

“With the current economic realities, even the wage award and palliative cannot replace the renegotiated agreement which was reached following the time-tried and honoured principle of collective bargaining.

“Presently, it is difficult for any University worker to tell his/her exact salary as it fluctuates every month while third-party deductions are withheld or released haphazardly with impunity and amputations.

“It is obvious this government is not interested in resolving lingering issues with our Union that is why like previous governments, its engagements with us are characterized by bottlenecks of bureaucracy, time-buying, documentation denial, lack of budgetary provisions rather compounding and complicating the already unpleasant relationship.

“Given current realities in the dysfunctional relationship between Federal government and ASUU, the Union resolved to give the government 14 more days ultimatum to the earlier 21 days beginning from Monday, 23rd September 2024 within which all issues must have been addressed to the satisfaction of our poorly-treated members.

“We hereby encourage members that though the road is rough, victory is assured because there is no going back,” the union concluded.