Tony Okocha, Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has urged the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, to hold local government elections as stipulated by the constitution.
Okocha made the plea while addressing journalists following a visit to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, by members of the Inter Party Advisory Committee, IPAC, in the state on Thursday. He stated that the tenures of the serving LGA chairman are set to expire in a few months.
He stated that the APC is prepared to contest the LGA poll.
Okocha said,
“I thought that I should also use this opportunity to call on the Rivers State Government to add to the calls that we have made for an election to be conducted because the constitution allows for an election after a certain period of time.
“And the tenure of the serving councils today will expire in a few months and of course the process has to be put in place because the law also says there should be reasonable time for the advanced notification of parties for the election.
“And we want to use this opportunity to let the governor know that it is not business as usual.
“In fact, the Supreme Court has made a pronouncement that the use of caretaker arrangements in local governments is an aberration.
“We are not going to boycott elections this time around; it was a mistake that was done before, it will never happen again.”
He expressed confidence in the RSIEC, led by Adolphus Enebeli, a retired Justice of the Rivers State High Court.