Its all done and dusted as expected by followers of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike as the All Progressives Congress (APC) won in 20 out of the 23 local government areas of Rivers State in the just concluded local government elections.
From the outset, it was clear to political observers that all the skull-duggery by the FCT minister is to give the ruling party undue advantage to take over Rivers State in future elections.
From the result of the local government elections declared by the State Independent Electoral Commission(RSIEC) on Sunday, it announced that APC won in 20 local government areas, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won in only three local government areas.
Interestingly, banking on the voting strength in the local government areas, the FCT minister gave PDP the three local government areas with the highest voting strength in the state -Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City and Ogba/Egbema /Ndoni.
With his calculation, Wike’s local government area, Obio/Akpor which has the largest voting population in the state is controlled by the PDP to justify that he still has some PDP ‘blood’ in his artery even as he works for the APC.
Observers however, say the set up is to enable the minister use Obio/Akpor as a bargaining tool in the 2027 elections and extract some commitments from aspirants seeking support of Rivers voters.
Read Also:
- Poll observers commend conduct of Rivers LG elections
- Rivers LG elections signals end of emergency rule, says Wike
- Ibas appoints Wike’s loyalists as chairmen, members of 8 boards/commissions in Rivers
Interestingly, many who observed the extreme poor turn out of voters on Saturday said it was a stark referendum on Wike and Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections.
The huge figures RSIEC attached to the candidates declared winners in the election were made up to give the impression that there was huge turn out of voters.
It was common on Saturday to see electoral officials thumb printing the ballot papers themselves in the absence of voters just to scale up the figures to be announced as actual votes cast.
The local government election appears to be the last in the series of activities lined up to strategically sideline the state governor, Sim Fubara and render him.politically impotent on return after the state of emergency.
The boards and commissions in ministries, departments and agencies in the state had already been constituted with Wike’s loyalists as members.
It remains to be seen how Gov. Fubara will navigate the situation when he returns. What is however undisputable is that Rivers State is the loser in all the shenanigans .
