The Inter-Party Advisory Council, known as IPAC, is asking all political groups to join in the upcoming Local Government Election happening in Rivers State.
IPAC is also encouraging everyone who can vote in the state to go out in large numbers and choose their preferred candidates. They want the election to be honest, calm, and open to everyone.
The group is also advising the judges to follow the rules and consider what’s best for everyone. This is so they don’t accidentally damage the country’s way of voting and government.
IPAC is like a big umbrella that covers all the political parties in the country. They promise to support democracy, which means helping people have a say in how things are run. They want to make sure everyone plays fair and follows the rules to make society better.
IPAC promises to fight against anyone trying to mess up Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy.
The DAILY POST says that elections in all 23 Local Government Areas in Rivers State will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024, organized by the Rivers State Independence Electoral Commission, or RSIEC.
The DAILY POST also mentions that political parties in the state have sent in their forms and are following the rules. They have assured everyone that the elections will be fair, honest, and peaceful.
The National Chairman of IPAC, Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, assured everyone in Abuja on Thursday that these elections are very important for the democracy in local areas, and they will make it stronger.
IPAC is fully supporting these local elections in Rivers State and others across the nation.
However, they do not like the high costs for nomination forms. They feel it stops good people, who don’t have much money, from joining in. They see this as unfair and going against the rules just to benefit certain people.
“Democracy needs to be fair for everyone involved,” IPAC says. They believe changing the rules suddenly is unfair and that integrity in elections is very important.
“Elections shouldn’t be stopped by last-minute decisions from the judges, especially when they only want to help politicians with big ambitions,” IPAC added.
They referenced an old situation from June 12, 1993, when a presidential election was cancelled under strange circumstances. IPAC is worried that history might repeat itself during the local government elections in Rivers State, where some groups don’t want the elections to happen.
There have been arguments in court about whether the elections should take place. Some politicians have been trying to get court orders to stop the elections, using the law in an unfair way.
If this continues, IPAC fears that there might be no elections in Nigeria because politicians not ready for an election could stop it just by using the courts. This would harm democracy, much like what happened in 1993.
IPAC, being an important player in making sure democracy is fair, says they won’t stand by and let people use the legal system to ruin democracy.
They emphasize that when judges make confusing and conflicting decisions, it can hurt the justice system, which is supposed to protect rights and maintain democracy. The trust people have in the courts is at risk if powerful people use them for personal gain.