RIVERS LEGISLATIVE RERUN AND THE COST OF VIOLENCE

The 2015 general elections in Nigeria came with a lot of intrigues. Rivers state was a particular example.

 The elections there were marred with violence attracting criticism from all angles even with foreign election observers calling for a cancelation of the polls.
Aggrieved persons went to the election tribunal. The governor was lucky when the Supreme Court upheld his election. The same could not be said of legislators from the state, both at the federal and state levels. Most of their elections were nullified by the Court of Appeal and fresh elections were ordered.
In March 2016, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the rerun elections into the vacant legislative seats in the State House of Assembly, House of Representatives and the Senate. Once again, violence erupted and a 'youth corper', Chukwudumebi Okonta, was killed. INEC suspended the elections indefinitely. Subsequently, dates were fixed but they were once again postponed for threat of violence.
INEC's reason is okay- they cannot conduct elections in Rivers state until the atmosphere is peaceful. It behoves on the stakeholders to ensure that they create a peaceful atmosphere. Election should not be an avenue for bloodbath, it is a demonstration of democracy, the people's voices being heard through the ballot paper.
Now, as it stands, Rivers state has no senator representating it, only five out of over ten House of Representatives members representating it and only 19 persons out of the total number of 31 persons in its House of Assembly. While people may be quick to blame INEC for failing to conduct elections, they should remember that INEC is only fighting for the security of its staff. The lack of representation is a creation of the violent political actors. The cost of election violence.