Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has instructed the Local Government Councils Chairmen in the state to vacate their positions and handover to the Heads of Local Government Administration..
Lagos Panorama reported on Friday the Supreme Court’s decision to nullify the elections of 23 local government chairmen in Rivers State and order the Central Bank of Nigeria to withhold local government allocations to the state.
A unanimous decision by a five-member panel, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, upheld an appeal by the All Progressives Congress, reversing the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal’s ruling of 21 November 2024, which validated the elections.
In the lead judgment, Justice Jamilu Tukur observed that inadequate evidence existed to demonstrate the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission’s fulfillment of Section 150(3) of the Electoral Act 2010 before conducting the elections.
The Supreme Court reinstated a prior ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja, which barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from providing the voters’ register to the RSIEC for local government electionit
Governor Fubara, in a statewide broadcast on Sunday, instructed Chairmen to hand over their duties to the Heads of Local Government Administration on Monday, March 3, 2025, pending the organization of fresh elections by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).
He also called on the populace to remain calm and respect the court’s judgment, even if they disagree with it.
