Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

A new twist has been added to the struggle for the control of the 22 local government councils in Rivers State as the National Industrial Court,sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital this morning reinstated 22 Local Government Chairmen earlier sacked by a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt in Rivers State.

The National Industrial Court ordered the reinstatement of the elected 22 local Government chairmen and ordered the Inspector General of Police to provide security for the sacked Chairmen.

The court then adjourned the case till 5 October.

Last week, Justice Lambo Akanbi of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt sacked the chairmen and their councillors, by annulling their election. Akanbi anchored the order on the refusal of the Rivers State Electoral Commission to comply with an earlier order restraining the commission from conducting the election.

Only at the weekend, the Inspector General of Police ordered the commissioner of police in the state to give security cover for the 22 Caretaker Committee Chairmen, CTC, appointed by Governor Nyesom Wike.

The caretaker officers were prevented from taking control of the councils on Friday, 10 July.

It is not clear which of the Court orders the IGP would enforce to avoid political crisis in an already politically tensed state.