Can Rivers Hold LG Election Under Emergency Rule?

Does the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd), have the constitutional power to conduct local government election under an emergency rule where democracy is under suspension? Ejiofor Alike asks

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s the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd.)  constitutionally empowered to conduct local government elections without first allowing the state to return to the control of an elected governor, elected lawmakers and other democratic institutions and structures that were suspended by President Bola Tinubu in his emergency declaration?

This is the question that will generate legal fireworks in the coming months as those who feel that Ibas’ regime should stabilise the state and leave the stage for elected governor and other democratic institutions to conduct LG elections, are challenging the August 30, 2025 scheduled election in court.

The Chief Michael Odey-led Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) had on July 28, 2025, released a time-table indicating that the local government election would be held on August 30, 2025 in all the 23 LGAs of the state.

The major reasons given by President Bola Tinubu in his March 18, 2025 declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State were the “disturbing incidents of vandalisation of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them.”

“Apart from that, both the House and the governor have not been able to work together.

“Both of them do not realise that they are in office to work together for the peace and good governance of the state.

“I have, of course, given stern orders to the security agencies to ensure the safety of lives of the good people of Rivers State and the oil pipelines.

“With all these and many more, no good and responsible President will standby and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security,” Tinubu explained.

Tinubu cited the February 28, 2025 Supreme Court judgment, which says that “a government cannot be said to exist without one of the three arms that make up the government of a state under the 1999 Constitution as amended.

“In this case the head of the executive arm of the government has chosen to collapse the legislature to enable him to govern without the legislature as a despot. As it is there is no government in Rivers State.”

With this foregoing, many stakeholders have argued that the spirit behind the declaration of emergency rule was to restore law, order, and security in the state so that the elected governor, his deputy and the state lawmakers could return to office and restore other democratic structures such as elected local government chairmen and councillors.

It is against this background that many indigenes of Rivers State had kicked against the decision of the emergency regime in the state to conduct local government election on August 30, 2025.

In their reactions, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) and the Rivers Civil Society Organisation (RIVCSO) insisted that the planned election is unconditional considering the fact that the state is currently under emergency rule.

They pointed out that provisions of the Nigerian constitution stipulated that it is only an electoral body set up by an elected government that can conduct local government elections.

The CLO, in a statement signed by its spokesman in the state, Emmanuel Obe, said the new RSIEC was unconstitutionally constituted and therefore lacks the legitimacy to conduct or reschedule elections.

“In addition to the illegality of the commission’s composition, the revised timetable fails to comply with statutory provisions requiring a minimum of 90 days’ notice before election day as provided for in Section Sections 9(6), 19 and 94 of the Electoral Act. The notice given – only 32 days – is grossly inadequate and violates the law,” the group said.

On its part, the RIVCSO, through its Chairman, Enefaa Georgewill, called on voters in the state to boycott the planned local government election.

Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, Georgewill said: “Our laws are clear; the constitution is clear. The person saddled with the power to conduct elections at the local government level is the electoral commission set up by the elected governor of the state,” the group added.

President Tinubu and Ibas’ have also been dragged before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja over the plan to conduct election in the state.

Also listed as defendants in the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1144/2025 and dated August 11, 2025, are the Rivers State Government and the RSIEC.

The plaintiffs — Fredrick Ededeh, Benita Samuel, Jane Madubuike, Boma Aggo, and Comfort Agbom — all indigenes of the state, in the suit, asked the court, through their lawyer, Sunday Ezema, to determine whether the scheduled local government election can lawfully be conducted during the subsistence of a state of emergency

The plaintiffs contend that the emergency conditions have not abated or ceased, which is why the president has neither revoked nor suspended the state of emergency.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to halt the election until the proclamation is lifted.

The Emeka Beke-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state had also faulted plans by the state’s electoral body to proceed with election, warning that the exercise risks disenfranchising voters and breaching a Supreme Court ruling.

The spokesperson of the faction, Darlington Nwauju, said the RSIEC should delay the polls until the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) completes its continuous voter registration in the state, in line with the apex court’s February 2025 judgement on the use of updated registers for elections.

Other stakeholders had also argued that both RSIEC and Ibas lack the legitimacy to organise the LG poll under the current emergency rule.

But RSIEC and the administrator have stood firm, insisting the August 30 date is non-negotiable.

RSIEC’s Commissioner in charge of Political Parties’ Affairs, Monitoring and Security, Professor Godfrey Ngozi Woke, claimed that 17 out of the 19 political parties had submitted the lists of their various candidates for the controversy-soaked elections.

Also, the Sole Administrator’s Senior Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Hector Igbikiowubo, was also quoted in the media as saying that RSIEC was cleared to conduct the poll by the National Assembly, which assumed legislative powers in the state after the declaration of emergency rule.

“When people talk about legality, are they wishing away the powers of the National Assembly? RSIEC has the legal basis to do what it is doing. You can’t wish that away,” he said.

Despite the assurances, the controversial election will be subject of litigation in the coming months.

Should the election go ahead during the period of emergency, the plaintiffs are also seeking an order of the Federal High Court setting it aside as a nullity.