The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, said the council elections in the 23 local government areas of the state was peaceful because the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not participate in the exercise.
Wike, who spoke after monitoring the local government elections in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor council area, said 66 out of 68 political parties participated in the exercise.
The governor hailed the state electoral commission for conducting credible poll across the state.
Wike also lauded security agencies for ensuring peaceful conduct of the poll by creating the right atmosphere for the exercise.
In the Ikwerre Local Government Area, a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Samuel Nwanosike, described the exercise as peaceful.
But the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, in a statement by his media team on Saturday, said the poll was fraught with “massive low turnout.”
Also, the APC in the state disagreed with Wike that the exercise was peaceful because the main opposition party boycotted it.
In his reaction, the state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Chris Finebone, said exercise was peaceful because thugs working for the PDP had nobody to shoot.
Finebone pointed out that the APC was not part of the LG poll because it decided to obey court orders, maintaining that there was no formidable opponent to the PDP during the exercise.
He said, “The governor is simply not saying the truth; he knows that it is the PDP that is in the habit of causing election violence.’’
Earlier, the Nigerian Army said soldiers would be on standby to forestall violence during the poll.
The Spokesman for the Nigerian Army 6 Division, Port Harcourt, Col. Aminu Iliyasu, said that soldiers would be deployed at strategic points several kilometres away from polling centres.
He explained that the army was adopting that strategy because “we are not directly involved in the election and no soldier will be deployed for any election duty.’’
In some areas, the voter turnout was not too impressive as the exercise started at noon in some polling units instead of 8am.
At about 11.05am, some of the officials were seen setting up tables and arranging the materials for the exercise at units 2, 10, 11, 13 and 14 of Ward 2 in the Obio Akpor Local Government Area.
The situation was the same at Governor Nyesom Wike’s Unit 7, Ward 9, Rumuprikon, and in units 2, 4, 5, 19 and 26 in ward 10, also in Obio Akpor.
A Peoples Democratic Party leader (PDP) in Unit 26, Mr Lucky Nkoro, decried the late commencement of the election and attributed it to delayed sorting of materials at the council’s headquarters.
Similarly, a voter at Ward 14, Ogbunabali, Mrs Ann Chukwu, said it was a case of voters waiting for the election officials to report for duty.
She attributed the delay to inadequacies in the distribution of materials to the wards and units.
Earlier at Ward 10, Mile 4 area of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, some voters were seen waiting patiently for the officials and materials as of 10.50am. The exercise was however peaceful across the state.
Some youths in Port Harcourt, mostly above 18 years, converted some major streets in the city into football pitches while the election was ongoing.
The state police command banned vehicular movements between 7am and 4pm to ensure a credible exercise.
But it was observed that the order was also violated by some commercial motorcyclists, who operated freely.
