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The All Progressives Congress, APC, has won 20 of the 23 local government areas in Saturday’s local government elections in Rivers State.
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, declared the results in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
The candidates of the APC for the chairmanship and councillorship elections are loyalists of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike.
Some of the LGs won by the APC include Ahoada East with 84,125 votes; Akuku Toru with 63,593 votes; Andoni with 126, 181; Asari Toru LGA with 56,383; Bonny LGA with 13,543; Degema LGA with 61,536 votes and Etche with 100, 649 APC.
PDP won Obioa Akpor and Onelga LGAs with 328,888 and 51,051 votes, respectively.
Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister and former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has regained his political influence in the state after a prolonged face-off with his successor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The Minister recaptured the local government structure on Saturday following the election conducted in the 23 Local Government Areas of the state by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC.
The elections were conducted after the political crisis that tore the state apart.
Recall that in the heat of the crisis last year, Governor Fubara conducted a highly controversial local government election, with his men sweeping relatively all the chairmanship positions.
Fubara’s loyalists had contested the election conducted on October 4, 2024 under the Action Peoples Party, APP, and won 22 out of the 23 chairmanship positions in the state.
However, the Supreme Court on February 28, 2025, nullified the election, following an appeal brought before the apex court by the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Jamilu Tukur, invalidated the election after it restored a judgment of the Federal High Court, which earlier in 2024 restrained RSIEC from proceeding with the conduct of the council polls on the grounds that the state’s voter’s register must be updated before the conduct of the poll.
