Rivers LG Elections Postponed Amid State of Emergency

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen will recall that the general stakeholders meeting was convened by the sixth commission on Wednesday 5th March 2025 where upon Saturday 9th August 2025 was proclaimed as a date of local government council uh elections in River it prior to the advent of emergency rule. Here now the seventh commission of RISE taking proper cognizance of section 13 sub5 of the RICK law which provides that when the commission appoints a date for holding an election and there is a reason to believe that a serious breach of peace is likely to occur if the election is held on that date or it is impossible to conduct the election as a result of natural disaster or any other emergency. Emphasis on any other emergency. The commission may postpone the election provided that the reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable. Therefore, by the powers vested upon the commission by this provision, I hereby announce the postponement of the local government council election earlier fixed to hold on Saturday 9th August 2025 for a very obvious and incontrovertible reason. Furthermore, in exercise of the powers conferred on the River State Independent Electoral Commission by section five of the research law number two of 2018 and all other powers enabling it in that behalf to provide guidelines to political parties stipulating the rules and procedure for electionary campaigns for the 2025 local government council elections and any other runoff. or reruns and by election that may arise there from the commission hereby makes the following rules and regulations. Announcement of new date for the postponed elections. There shall be local government elections on Saturday the 30th of August 2025 in all [Applause] In all in all the 23 local government areas of river states, one counselor each shall be elected in each of the world and a chairman and vice chairman shall be elected for each of the local government council areas. The revised timetable of activities as amended will now be officially unveiled. I thank you very much. Today marks a critical milestone you know in our journey to ensure a transparent, free, fair, credible and inclusive electoral process. Now we in the seventh commission in accepting this national assignment and responsibility we are not unaware of the weighty implications and huge significance particularly in the light you know of this incredibly extraordinary period in the democratic evolution. of river state. Now elections all over the world that is periodic election that is to say is arguably you know the cornerstone. It is a hallmark. It is if you like a condition precedent for a sustainable democracy. Now democracy itself is not merely uh periodic elections. As a matter of fact, election is not just a process. It is a sacred expression of the people’s will. you know as to who governs them as to who leads them and in this our circumstance uh who leads them in the local government governance level. Now we in the commission uh as you know midwives of democracy we in the commission if you like as stewards of electoral integrity have been saddled you know I’ve been given the solemn role of safeguarding of protecting that sacred desire, that aspiration and that hope for the electorates. Now this begs the question, how are we going to do it? We are going to do it by ensuring that you know voices are heard and by voices I mean rational voices if you like and I’m using the word rational deliberately that and I know there are going to be plethora of voices and that uh the prospective voters are provided with a safe and secure environment to exercise their franchise. Furthermore, we’re going to ensure that the prospective voters have a free and unfettered access to their electoral sites and venues and polling units to exercise their civic responsibility. are also going to make sure our pro prospective voters are allowed freely without intimidation or coercion to make their choices. And we are also going to make sure that the entire process is not just transparent, free, fair, credible and inclusive, but that is going to be seen as such. Now in carrying out our activities in the commission we are not going to arrogate to ourselves the status of a behemoth the status of of of an omniscient all knowing institution you know with a powerful knowledge of everything. No we are not going to do that. election administration. It’s a multis sectoral endeavor. It is a multistakeholders enterprise. And so we are going to make sure that we consult, we collaborate and we synergize with the critical stakeholders. This is important because if an election empire, election umpire, be it national or subnational, operates in a closet, operates in an opaque manner, then that empire is calling to question its integrity. There’s bound to be a perception of integrity deficit. And so we intend to engage robustly periodically with all our stakeholders in order to bring them up to speed you know with our operational planning and implementation because experience has shown that if you don’t do that you are creating a vacuum. You are creating a gap and you know nature abhors a vacuum and that vacuum will naturally be filled with rumors, be filled with suspicion. It will filled with innuendos. It will filled with fake news. It will be filled with misinformation. It will be filled at times with protest. And so in order to avoid that it is important we have a mandate. We have a mandate and that mandate gives us a legitimate and compelling obligation to make sure that we achieve that mandate within this period. Now we in the commission are going to make sure that the laws are enforced. Electoral laws and timelines are sacrosant. As a matter of fact, on a personal level as a person, as a leader, as chairman of the commission, I have an incurable obsession for electoral due diligence. I’m a stickler to that and I have no apologies at all. In fact, I may also decide to be very stubborn in ating to these regulations because the people of River State desire nothing less. And so what I want to ask of the good people of River State here and now on behalf of the commission is to give us your support. Give us your cooperation and we will deliver to you the best of elections. We will do that in excellence. We are going to do that in honor. We are going to do that with dignity. And we’re going to do that with integrity. Thank you very much. Most welcome.