Amidst the recent leadership tussle rocking the Local Government Areas in Rivers State, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), has announced October 5, 2024, for the conduct of the local government elections.

The announcement was made on Monday during a stakeholder meeting at RSIEC premises in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Announcing this update, the Chairman of the Rivers State Electoral Umpire, Retired Justice Adolphus Enebeli, said that the time was ripe to yield to the call of all stakeholders for the L.G.A elections, following the end of the tenure of the former chairmen.

In recent times, there have been calls from different quarters for the conduct of the L.G.A election, as some believed it would bring to rest controversies on who should be in charge of the 23 LGAs in Rivers State.

He assured that the elections, which would usher in new sets of chairmen and councilors for the next three years, would be free and fair.

The announcement was followed by the unveiling of 35-page guidelines for the L.G.A election.

Over 16 political parties were present at the event, however, conspicuously absent were executives of the PDP and APC.

The announcement came barely a fortnight after the appointment of caretaker committee chairmen by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, into the 23 local government areas of the state following the expiration of the tenure of the former council chairmen on July 17.

There are still ongoing legal matters regarding amendments to the Local Government Act by the Martins Amaewhule-led group.

Two Former local government chairmen who are presently CTC Chairmen, have challenged these amendments, and the courts are yet to make a final judgment. The new election timetable may help resolve these issues.