INEC office deserted as Rivers APC demands poll cancellation

Fidelis Soriwei, Chukwudi Akasike, Friday Olokor and Friday Amobi

The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to go beyond the suspension of state and National Assembly elections in eight local government areas of the state and cancel the entire exercise.

The State APC chairman, Dr. Davies Ikanya, said on Monday while briefing newsmen that the elections were marred by violence and irregularities across the state.

Ikanya recalled that the party had complained about the 2015 election that brought the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to power, adding that Saturday’s polls were the worst.

He explained that apart from violence, there was inadequate security on the ground, maintaining that Wike interfered with the exercise.

He stated, “There were unlawful interferences by Governor Nyesom Wike, inadequate security, irregular and untrained ad hoc staff in some places among other very serious issues. These problems were also corroborated by the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state.

“You heard when the REC said INEC employees were abducted. It is the PDP that abducted them. You also heard when he was complaining about irregularities. We are saying that this election falls far below standard.

“The APC, therefore, calls on the INEC chairman and his entire management to cancel the entire Rivers State rerun as no result will be credible. There is no result that is credible.

“We want all the pitfalls we have mentioned to be corrected before a fresh rerun is held.”

He added that though the military was present in the state, they were only at local government headquarters, stressing that the violence during the polls was state wide.

Ikanya said, “It is not true that the military was present everywhere. They were at the headquarters of every local government area and not in every ward; they were not in the other cities and communities.

There is nowhere in Rivers State that violence did not occur. You saw dynamites, grenades exploding in Asari-Toru. Where would you mention that election was peaceful?”

The state Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, said in a telephone interview that contrary to the APC statement, the governor never interfered in the polls.

Nwanosike said Wike only went to the Mile One Police Station when he learnt that an ad hoc employee of INEC, alleged to have been taken away with a result sheet, resurfaced at the police station.

“On the issue of security, there were enough policemen on the ground, but the military did not allow for the smooth running of the election,” he said.

In a related development, the office of INEC was quiet on Monday, two days after the state and National Assembly reruns.

Our correspondent gathered that only some policemen, soldiers and few employees of the commission were seen inside and outside the premises of the office located along Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway.

However, the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, came out from his office at about 10am and boarded a waiting Hilux van.

He was driven out of the INEC office in the white Hilux van, which came back 45 minutes later without him.

In another development, Wike said in Port Harcourt on Monday that the state government had compiled videos of the atrocities committed by the military across the state during the reruns.

Wike explained that the videos would be released to the public at the appropriate time, adding that with the declaration of results by returning officers in the respective constituencies, no INEC official was empowered by law to cancel or nullify such results.

 The governor said the violence allegedly orchestrated by the military in the state could be part of a plot by the All Progressives Congress to declare a state of emergency in the state based on propaganda.

But the Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, has distanced the military from any blame in the River elections.

Abubakar said while the military would not take issues with the political leaders of the country, it was important to note that the military had a constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property as provided for in the 1999 Constitution.

He said, “While we are not joining issues with our political leaders, it is important to say for the records that we are there for security of Nigerians, which is more important than election. We must be seen to be protecting the lives of citizens who are only there to cast their votes”

Meanwhile, the state PDP has called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and the APC senatorial candidate for Rivers South-East, Senator Magnus Abe.