A civil society group, Citizens Centre for Democratic Governance, has urged the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesome Wike, to concentrate on good and credible governance of his state and allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) focus on its task of ensuring a free and credible 2019 elections.
The group expressed concern over what it described as persisting insistence by the Rivers State governor to cast aspersions on the credibility of the 2019 election.
According to a statement by the National coordinator of the group, Anthony Osagbemi, the group said that the governor continues to raise unnecessary alarm about the 2019 election without necessary evidence to back his claims.
The group said that the Rivers governor might be setting the stage for another round of violence, recalling that “it was this same tactics he deployed in the court ordered re-run election in Rivers State, which led to his orchestration of brutal violence that led to the death of an INEC ad-hoc staff and the maiming of another.
According to Osagbemi, the quote by the INEC chairman that only votes will count in any election conducted by INEC under his watch continues to bear fruit, as evidence has indeed shown that elections are consistently getting better in all the states where they have so far been conducted.
He said the era where politicians bribe INEC officials to rig elections is far gone, as the Commission under this current leadership is very determined to improve the electoral process.
He said, “Governor Wike must understand now that his crude mannerism will not deter this INEC chairman from sustaining the ongoing reforms of the electoral process. Perhaps he is afraid that he might not be able to use the Resident Electoral Commissioner to his advantage as usual.”
