The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC has scheduled next week to commence the screening of candidates for the forthcoming Local Government Councils election billed for October 5.
The Commission made the disclosure during an emergency meeting it held with all political party chairmen and secretaries in the state on Monday.
The state electoral body’s latest update was contained in a memo consisting part of resolutions reached at the emergency meeting.
RSIEC in the memo assured members of the public that the October 5 date for the Local Government Councils elections remains sacrosanct.
The memo reads, “After an emergency meeting with all Chairmen and Secretaries of political parties in Rivers State by RSIEC, it was resolved as follows:
“The October 5th Local Government Council election still holds.
“The commission will commence screening of candidates by next week.”
The assurances from RSIEC came on the heels of growing concerns among the political class of a possible postponement of the elections.
Recall that the state All Progressives Congress, APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Chief Tony Okocha had recently boasted that the elections would not hold on October 5, citing ongoing litigations facing the electoral body regarding the forthcoming elections.
Currently, the two major political parties in the state and country, PDP and APC appear not to be ready for the election following persistent internal wranglings the state chapters of the parties are faced with.
The outcome of the election will bring to an end the reign of the Caretaker Committee Chairmen appointed by the State Governor Siminalayi Fubara to run the affairs of the 23 Local Government Areas.
The appointment was done prior to the pronouncement of the Supreme Court which outlawed CTCs to run the LGAs.
The Supreme Court had declared that all Local Government Councils in the country must be runned by elected officials and not CTCs, ordering that Councils runned by Caretaker Committees would have their funds withheld by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).