Come Saturday, March 19, 2016, the people of Rivers State will go back to the polls in the three senatorial districts of the state, to participate in a rerun for National and State House of Assembly elections as ordered by the State Election Petitions Tribunal and later reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Most candidates of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), who participated in the March 28, 2015 National Assembly and the April 11, 2015 State House of Assembly elections, had approached the Election Tribunals, which sat in Abuja, insisting that elections did not hold in their various constituencies in the state.
However, from the look of things, in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it seems the only candidates that are campaigning ahead of the election are Senator George Thompson Sekibo of Rivers East senatorial district, as well as Hon. Ken Chikere and Hon. Blessing Charles Nsiegbe of Port Harcourt I and Port Harcourt II federal constituencies. Every other candidate seem to be hoping on the powers of Governor Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike to win in the rerun polls.
Also, in the APC, apart from Senator Magnus Ngei Abe of Rivers South-East senatorial district, Chief Andrew Igbonule Uchendu of Rivers East senatorial district, Hon. Barry Mpigi of Tai/Eleme/Oyigbo federal constituency, and Dr. Dawari George of Asari-Toru/Akuku-Toru federal constituency, no other candidate of the party is being heard campaigning ahead of the polls.
Leaders and candidates of the two political parties have been attacking each other verbally as a way of convincing the electorate that the candidates of their political parties are better than others. Both sides believe that the other side is plotting on how to rig the rerun election either with security operatives or armed militant youths.
Speaking recently at a phone-in radio programme monitored in Port Harcourt, Abe, who seems to be the main target of the attacks of the PDP-controlled state government, accused the state governor, Wike, of keeping and maintaining a private army of hoodlums to further his political interest in the senatorial district.
He alleged that the criticism against the presence of Nigerian army in the Rivers South East senatorial district and other parts of state by the governor and the PDP was to ensure that the Nigerian army withdraw for his private army to take over and give cover to the manipulation of the March 19, 2016 re-run election.
The APC chieftain said, “There are two armies in Rivers State as we speak. There is the Nigerian army that is under the command of President Muhammadu Buhari and then there is an army of gangsters and criminals that is commanded by Governor Wike.
“So, all these noise you are hearing are blackmail against the Nigerian army. It is just designed to blackmail the army into withdrawing from the March 19 elections so that their own army can operate the way they operated the last time. There is nothing else that the army has done to deserve the kind of blackmail that is going on.”
According to Chief Felix Amaechi Obuah, chairman of PDP in the state, the APC is behind the military invasion of some parts of the state for the purpose of rigging the March 19, 2016 National and State Assembly re-run elections.
Obuah, who in a statement issued in Port Harcourt recently, said he was alarmed by the continued provocative and inciting utterances of the APC leadership both at the national and state level, regretted that a party that is soliciting votes from the people will choose the unholy path of using the military to traumatise and kill the same people they want their votes during the elections against all known democratic principles all over the world.
He noted that certain unguarded public statements credited to the acting national chairman of the APC, Chief Segun Oni shows that the party has leadership problem, saying that was why the APC has crashed to the lowest ebb of public discontent.
The PDP chairman said, “For Chief Oni who knows nothing about the Rivers situation to rely on the mischief of disgruntled members of his failed APC in the state, Magnus Abe, Dakuku Peterside etc to form his opinion explains why the APC has continued to suffer dwindling fortunes under the Oni leadership who could not win election in his ward yet he went on to become the national chairman of the APC most undeservedly, perhaps, thinking he could find solace in Rivers State.”
Only recently, Wike personally accused the APC of plotting to rig the forthcoming National and State Assembly rerun elections in the state, using politically-compromised returning officers.
The governor, who made the allegation when the management of the University of Port Harcourt, led by its vice chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale, paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Port Harcourt, alerted the vice chancellor of a list of returning officers allegedly induced by the APC to be imposed on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the rerun elections.
He further alleged that one Dr. Otu Ekpenyong and the APC House of Representatives’ candidate for Asari-Toru/ Akuku-Toru federal constituency, connived to draw up a list of returning officers from the institution with the aim of rigging the rerun polls.
Wike stated that the state government has already officially notified INEC of the fraudulent plot through a letter addressed to the national chairman of the electoral body, pointing out that the people of the state are vigilant, as nobody will be allowed to subvert the democratic process.
The governor, who noted that the vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt may have signed the APC- induced list without knowing that it was masterminded by chieftains of the opposition party, warned that lecturers who allow themselves to be used by the APC chieftains will face the wrath of the people of the state.
He said, “The vice chancellor signed without knowing that the list of returning officers was hijacked by the APC through Dr/ Otu Ekpeyong, who was guided by Dr Dawari George, the APC candidate for Akuku-Toru/Asari-Toru federal constituency.
“I am saying this publicly because we want the world to know the desperation of the APC. The fraudulent list of returning officers for the rerun elections has been intercepted and we have officially written to the national chairman of INEC.”
In a swift response, the APC denied the governor’s allegation that it plans to rig the forthcoming rerun elections for National and State Assembly, and described the allegation as the the most callous and mischievous lie of the century, pointing out that the allegation was a smokescreen by the governor to conceal his attempts to repeat what he did in 2015 elections
A statement by the publicity secretary of APC in the state, Senibo Chris Finebone, reads in part, “The attention of the Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), has been drawn to an accusation by the governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike that the APC is contemplating rigging the March 19 rerun elections in Rivers State, an accusation he made when the vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ndowa Lale and the management of the university paid him a courtesy call in Government House, Port Harcourt Tuesday.
“This is the most callous and mischievous lie of the century. It is important that we reveal here that this is a smokescreen by the governor to conceal his attempts to repeat what he did in 2015.
which he is trying so hard to repeat without success so far and the APC is monitoring his antics closely. Some of those in that audience who knew what the governor has been trying to do must have really been amused at his accusation against the APC.
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