Amidst the controversies trailing the planned conduct of local councils election in Rivers State, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike has explained why the election were imperative, pointing out that the state would loose heavily if she fails to do so.
The Minister, who’s also the immediate past governor of the state gave the explanation in his monthly live media chat on prime network time on major television networks across the country in Abuja on Monday August 4, 2025.
Although, he spoke on several issues ranging from land allocations in the FCT, the crisis in PDP, the coalition against Tinubu and several others, we have singlehandedly reproduced an excerpts on why the local councils polls in Rivers state is imperative for your reading pleasure. Enjoy it.
Wike – “. . . An emergency is not an aberration. The law knows that there’ll be an emergency situation. The Emergency Act of 1961, particularly Section 3 of that law provides that if there’s any emergency, the Gov General then, and you remember the 1999 constitution gives the president the power to modify, the law on Conduct Bureau or even the military. And that’s why in 2004, under President Obasanjo, he now brought the modifications of 2004 under the Emergency Act and retained those provisions that under the emergency rule the president can suspend, modify some aspects of the law.
“The President can modify, suspend some aspects of the law and allow the President to make a regulation that would guide governance of the emergency areas. And that’s why President Tinubu made a modification of 2004 made by Obasanjo. Now, he made regulations and such regulations on the emergency and to conduct local governments election was made in June, where the President said, emergency, I’ve to conduct local governments election in order to bring back democratic structures in certain emergency areas that need to suspend or modify the application of the Electoral Act of 2022; the application of the Rivers State Local Government law; the RSIEC law and the Rivers State Local Government Elections Tribunal law and gave 90 days within which the election should be conducted in order to bring back democratic structures. Mine is to support; if the local governments doesn’t have the democratic structures, which has just been modified by the Supreme Court.
“Now, when you now say emergency, that they have no power to conduct election. How would anyone say so. Remember that Supreme Court said, where there’s no local government they can’t have access to the funds from the federation account. And no government can set up caretaker committee. Is that not correct? Now, because of emergency that judgement was set aside . . . to allow the local governments to access funds. And that’s how they appointed sole administrators in the LGAs . . . Now, assuming there’s no emergency rule, would local governments access funds today? Would the state access funds today? Certainly not. So, the answer of emergency rule becomes imperative.
“Now, the President, in law has restored democratic governance in the local governments, came again with another regulation which was signed in July, that this election must be conducted within 30 days, because the President, from my understanding doesn’t want to extend the emergency rule. Because, extending the emergency rule wouldn’t be palatable to the people.
“But then, if you don’t do local government elections and then you lift the emergency rule, how would the local governments now access funds? And when the governor can’t appoint caretaker committees based on the Supreme Court judgement and they can’t take money. Is that not crisis in the LGAs?
“And the President said, look, I don’t want this crisis again. While you’re there now conduct this election so that there’ll be democratic structures in the local governments; so that as this emergency rule is being lifted, the governor comes, the Assembly comes and there are democratic structures in the local governments. And then, they’ll have access to their funds . . .“
