Rivers LG Elections: Anxiety, Suspense Amongst PDP Chairmanship, Councillorship Aspirants
As the battle for the upcoming Local Government elections in Rivers State hots-up, elders and stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, across the 23 Local Government Areas of the State and 319 wards are reportedly having sleepless nights to ensure that the party primaries for the chairmanship and councillorship aspirants are smoothly conducted to beat the deadline for the party primaries billed for Saturday, February 11 and 14, 2021 respectively.
Following renewed cases of COVID-19 in Rivers State in the early weeks of January, 2021, the PDP and some of the registered political parties wrote to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), requesting for a shift in the earlier dates of Monday, January 25, and Saturday, January 30, fixed for party primaries to elect councillorship and chairmanship candidates for the local government election.
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission graciously granted the request and fixed a new date of February 11, for councillorship primary and February 14, for chairmanship primary.
The State PDP Chairman, Ambassador Desmond Akawor speaking through the State Deputy Chairman, Chukwuemeka Aaron at a function at the State Party Secretariat in Port Harcourt said the party was fully prepared for the local government election and advised all aspirants to see the primaries as a family affair.
In what appears as a benchmark for qualification for the local government election for aspirants under the PDP, the State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike revealed that sitting council chairmen who have performed in office are likely to be considered for a second term.
He however, said that the criterion does not invalidate existing arrangements in most council areas where such chairmanship positions are on rotational basis.
The Governor said it has become more important to allow people who are competent and know what to do with elective office to ascend such position so that they can work for the good of the people and communities.
According to Governor Wike, anybody who wants to be back for chairmanship must show evidence of what he has done in that local government area.
The position of the Governor is said to be causing ripples in areas where council chairmen thought it was going to be business as usual without any visible projects to show for their stewardship.
Stakeholders, party officials and members according to sources close to National Network have vowed to implement the Governor’s standard while choosing candidates for all the chairmanship and councillorship elections not only not to lose the elections to rival parties but also choose candidates that will sustain the developmental strides of the leader of the party in the State, Gov. Nyesom Wike if elected into office.
Investigations however revealed that not a few sitting council chairmen and their councilors are agitated over the development and may have resorted to intense lobbying and reaching out to party leaders and friends to come to their rescue.
As such aspirants make last minute efforts to warn themselves into the good books of the party leaders and elders at all levels, it’s hoped that at the end of the exercise only candidates that meet up the dream performance standard of the PDP would make the list.
