Protests erupted at the Peoples Democratic Party secretariat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, as tensions rise ahead of the Local Government election scheduled for October 5, 2024.
The protesters, who arrived in large numbers at the party’s secretariat, forced security operatives to step in to control the crowd and manage traffic congestion in the area.
The unrest follows growing concerns over the delay in the release of the 2023 Voters’ Register by the Independent National Electoral Commission to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in a ruling delivered on September 30, 2024, barred INEC from releasing the voters’ register to RSIEC due to legal challenges.
Despite the court ruling, Governor Siminalayi Fubara maintained that the election would go on as planned.
Fubara expressed confidence that the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling, which mandated that all states in the federation must have democratically elected local government executives, supports his position.