Police withdraws from Rivers LG elections

The Police Command in Rivers has stated that it will not back up the local government council elections scheduled for Saturday with security.

The decision to withdraw, according to SP Grace Iringe-Koko, the command’s spokesperson, complied with an order from the Federal High Court.

Iringe-Koko stated, “The court order bars the police from allowing, participating in, providing security for, or taking part in the local government council elections.

“Therefore, all area commanders, divisional police officers, and tactical commanders have been instructed to fully comply with the Federal High Court’s judgement.”

Assured that police officers would remain alert for ‘potential disturbances,’ she enjoined anyone aggrieved by the police’s withdrawal to seek legal redress before the elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on September 30 been barred the Federal High Court from releasing the Voters Register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), citing RSIEC’s non-compliance with its 2018 law regarding the voters register as reason for the court’s decision to halt the elections. It also ordered the police and the State Security Service (DSS) not to engage in the elections.

But the RSIEC is determined to conduct the elections.

The Lawyers in Defence of Democracy and Human Rights remained unmoved by the legal dispute, arguing that the Federal High Court lacks the jurisdiction to prevent RSIEC from conducting the LG polls.

The group’s convener, Okere Nnamdi, explained that “The court’s jurisdiction is outlined in Section 2(51), Subsection 1(Q) (R) of the 1999 Constitution.

“RSIEC is not a Federal Government agency, but an agency of the Rivers State Government.

“Therefore, the Federal High Court cannot issue an injunctive order to stop RSIEC from conducting local government elections.”

The RSIEC, according to Nnamdi, is an autonomous body established by Section 197 of the 1999 Constitution, under the authority of the state government and saddled with a constitutional role to conduct local government elections, as empowered by Paragraph 4, Part 2 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution.

“It is only the Rivers State High Court that can restrain RSIEC from conducting local government elections,” he insisted.