The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has officially confirmed that it will only recognise candidates submitted by the Chief Tony Okocha-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the upcoming local government elections scheduled for August 30.
The clarification was made by Chidi Halliday, RSIEC’s Commissioner for Administration and Legal Matters, during an interactive session with civil society groups in Port Harcourt.
Halliday revealed that the commission had received two separate lists of APC candidates—one from the Okocha-led faction and another from the Chief Emeka Beke-led faction, but only one met the deadline.
“The list from the Chief Beke APC was received for record purposes only,” Halliday stated.
“RSIEC monitored the primaries conducted by the Tony Okocha-led APC and will be recognising only the candidates that emerged from that process.”
He further explained that RSIEC does not engage in internal party disputes or court battles, noting that the commission relies solely on documentation from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding the legally recognised leadership of political parties.
“To us, after the primaries are over, you cannot start submitting your list. All those we are dealing with are from the records we got from INEC,” Halliday said.
In response, Darlington Nwauju, spokesperson for the Beke-led APC faction, disagreed with RSIEC’s stance, maintaining that their candidate list was submitted within the required timeframe.
“Any attempt to publish names without the endorsement of our Chairman, Emeka Beke, and State Secretary, Sam Sam Etetegwung, as candidates of APC in Rivers State will attract the long arm of the law,” he warned.
The conflict stems from a longstanding internal power struggle within the state APC.
A Rivers State High Court ruling last year reinstated the Beke-led executive, aligned with former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, after the group had been dissolved by the APC National Working Committee under Abdullahi Ganduje over alleged anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, RSIEC Chairman Dr. Michael Odey reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to conducting a free, fair, and credible local government election.
He disclosed that RSIEC had successfully obtained the official voter register from INEC, which will be publicly displayed ahead of the election.
“We have a signed letter from INEC issuing us the voter register. It is authentic, and the INEC Chairman has promised full support,” Dr. Odey assured.
