Miss Aaue Samuel Olubari, a 19-year-old candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has made history by clinching a councillorship seat in Rivers State.
This platform reports that the Rivers Local Government election was conducted on Saturday, August 30, 2025, across 6,866 polling units in 319 wards, to elect local government chairpersons and councillors, replacing administrators appointed in April 2025.
The elections came six months and two days after the Supreme Court nullified the council polls conducted on October 5, 2024, by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).
Announcing results on Sunday, RSIEC confirmed that the APC won 20 out of 23 local government areas, while Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates secured victories in Obio/Akpor, Ogba/Egbema/Ndon, and Port Harcourt City.
APC candidates triumphed in Ahoada East, Asari Toru, Ikwerre, Bonny, Degema, Eleme, Etche, Gokana, and Khana LGAs, among others.
Other councils won included Ogu/Bolo, Opobo/Nkoro, Okrika, Emohua, and Akuku Tor.
The political parties that participated in the chairmanship and councillorship elections were: APC, PDP, Labour Party (LP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Zenith Party, Accord, African Action Congress (AAC), Action People’s Party (APP), and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Others included Action Alliance, Youth Party, Young Progressive Party, Action Democratic Party, New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), and Allied People’s Party (APP).
19-Year-Old Emerges Councillor in Rivers
Reports on Monday confirmed that Miss Olubari was among the APC councillorship candidates who emerged victorious.
She contested and won the councillor seat for Bangha Ward 7 in Khana LGA during the Rivers LGA election.
Days before the polls, she was formally introduced to party leaders and stakeholders by APC Khana Chairman, Hon. Barile Ebenezer, during a ward-to-ward sensitization campaign.
The young councillor’s historic win is being celebrated as proof that the “Not Too Young to Run” movement is taking root, granting youths greater participation in governance at the grassroots level.
The ‘Not Too Young to Run Bill’, signed into law in 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari, was passed by the National Assembly in 2017 to amend Sections 65, 106, 131, and 177 of the Constitution.
The law reduced the minimum age requirement for the president from 40 to 30, governor from 35 to 30, senator from 35 to 30, House of Representatives from 30 to 25, and State House of Assembly from 30 to 25.
This landmark legislation aims to relax stringent constitutional barriers and promote youth inclusion in politics.
