Hundreds of protesters, who are members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), took to the streets of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday to express their opposition to the scheduled October 5 local government election.
The protesters, carrying various placards, gathered at the PDP Secretariat and marched along Azikiwe Road towards the Government House, voicing their concerns amidst uncertainty over voter eligibility due to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) delay in releasing the 2023 voter register.
Security patrol vans were deployed to monitor the protest to avert it being hijacked by hoodlums.
Persecondnews recalls that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued an order on September 30, barring INEC from sharing the voters’ register for the election by RSIEC.
Lifu criticized RSIEC for scheduling October 5 as the election date without adhering to the relevant laws governing the conduct of the election.
He ruled that the Rivers State electoral body violated the provisions of the local government election law by failing to publish the mandatory 90-day notice before fixing the election date.
The judge further held that before setting a legally valid election date, the voters’ register should have undergone updating and revision.
Therefore, he ordered INEC to delay releasing the certified voter’s register to RSIEC until all legal requirements were satisfied.
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