Just in: Police absent as voting commences in Rivers LG election

Just in: Police absent as voting commences in Rivers LG election

Police were conspicuously absent on Saturday morning at polling stations in River State where voters cast their votes in the state’s local government election.

The Rivers LGA election is taking place despite the court order restraining the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other security agencies from providing security during the poll.

But lawyer to state electoral body, Mr Femi Falana, said an appeal seeking a stay of execution of the court order had been filed, thus clearing the path for today’s poll.

In some polling units at the Saturday poll, voters were seen waiting for the arrival of election materials.

Earlier, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) commenced distribution of sensitive materials to LGAs for the conduct of the election.

On September 30, a federal high court in Abuja barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the 2023 voter register to RSIEC.

The court also barred the inspector-general of police and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the exercise.

On October 2, INEC said it had not released the voter register to RSIEC for the conduct of the election, in compliance with the verdict of the federal high court.

But the state governor Siminalayi Fubara said there was no going back in the conduct of the LG poll and had declared Thursday and Friday as public holidays in preparation for the election.