***Eyes Return of State Assembly After LG Polls
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Saturday expressed optimism that the state of emergency declared in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu will end on September 18, paving the way for the return of legislative activities in the state.
Wike made the remarks after casting his vote in the controversial local government elections conducted under the state’s sole administrator, retired Navy Chief Ibok Ete-Ibas.
“As far as we are concerned, this election is peaceful. People are trooping out, and at the end of the day it will be adjudged successful. By September 18, the state of emergency will expire, and the assembly will return to its duties. That way, governance at the grassroots will be restored,” Wike said.
The minister argued that conditions were now ripe for lifting the emergency rule, pointing out that with representation at both the state and local government levels, “the coast is clear.”
Saturday’s polls—held across 6,866 polling units in 319 wards—came amid sharp criticism from opposition voices and civil society groups, who questioned the legitimacy of holding elections under a non-elected caretaker administration.
The controversy deepened after the Supreme Court, on February 28, 2025, annulled the October 2024 local government elections conducted by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC). The commission, now under Ibas’ supervision, has nonetheless insisted that eligible voters “peacefully exercise their civic duty.”
For Wike, however, the elections are more than a ballot, they signal a countdown to the end of an extraordinary political arrangement that has sidelined both the Rivers State House of Assembly and grassroots governance for months.