From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to be unbiased in the forthcoming local government election.
State Publicity Secretary of the party Tambari Sydney Gbara gave the charge in an interview in Port Harcourt.
We expect the umpire to be unbiased, professional because they were all picked based on their personal integrities and pedigree as they have been known in their various areas of professionalism before now,’ he said.
So, we want them not to compromise for any reason. They should be fair, and give everybody a fair ground to compete and win.’
Gbara said PDP was prepared for the April 17, 2021, council elections and expressed optimism the party would clinch the 319 councillorship and 23 chairmanship seats.
He declared: ‘Our party is well prepared for the forthcoming local government chairmanship and councillorship election that would be coming up on April 17, 2021.
‘In the light of this, our party has concluded all primaries of both councillors and that of chairmen. And the screening has commenced at the RSIEC office.
‘Our candidates, both the chairmen and councillors, have been screened alongside their opponents, who are from other 18 other political parties, who are participating in the exercise.
‘We understand that screening is very rigorous and strict; we pray that our candidates would scale through successfully. But, if per venture they don’t scale through, may be for one issue or the other, as might be decided by the commission, RSIEC has also left a window for replacement. We won’t contest with them if that happens. We are going to take it in good faith and take advantage of the window for replacement.
‘Our expectation is, first, we are praying that all our candidates would be able to scale through the screening and then, we commence our campaign rigorously like we used to do; having in mind to claim the 319 seats for councillorship and 23 seats for local government chairmanship.’