From Victor Edozie Port Harcourt
The Rivers State Branch of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has rejected the recently announced timetable for the 2025 Local Government Council Elections by the reconstituted Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RISIEC), led by Dr. Michael Ekpai Odey.
Dr. Odey had on Monday unveiled a revised election timetable, fixing the elections for Saturday, August 30, 2025.
The timetable replaces an earlier one issued by the lawfully constituted RISIEC under Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli, which had scheduled the elections for August 9, 2025.
CLO in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Thursday by its Spokesman, Emmanuel Obe maintained that the new RISIEC board was unconstitutionally constituted and, as such, lacks the legitimacy to conduct or reschedule elections. The entire process is unconstitutional, illegal, and a misuse of public funds.
“In addition to the illegality of the commission’s composition, the revised timetable fails to comply with statutory provisions requiring a minimum of 90 days’ notice before election day as provided for in Section Sections 9(6), 19 and 94 of the Electoral Act. The notice given—only 32 days—is grossly inadequate and violates the law.
“Furthermore, the timetable does not include provisions for the display and verification of the voters’ register, nor has RISIEC confirmed receipt of the register from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This omission raises serious concerns about transparency and voter eligibility, opening the door to widespread manipulation and voter disenfranchisement.
“CLO demands the immediate suspension of the proposed elections and timetable. A credible and constitutionally compliant process must be established for conducting local government elections in Rivers State.
“We question the urgency behind the attempt by the current undemocratic administration to rush these elections before the anticipated return to democratic governance in September 2025—when the six-month suspension of the Governor and State House of Assembly ends.
“The legitimate course of action is to allow the reinstated democratic institutions to oversee and conduct the elections in a lawful manner,” the group pointed out in the statement.
The statement added that it will not hesitate to take all necessary legal and democratic steps to halt any unconstitutional and undemocratic actions “by the unlawfully constituted RISIEC.”
