The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has faulted the Governorship and House of Assembly Election that took place in the state last Saturday.
Spokesperson of the party in the State, Mr. Darlington Nwauju in a press briefing
in PortHarcourt told Journalists that the election was marred with violence which led to the loss of lives.
Mr. Nwauju accused the Governor of Rivers State Chief Nyesom Wike of conniving with the security agency and INEC to rig the election in favor of his preferred candidates.
On the alleged killings of some persons during the election, Mr.Nwauju stated that four party members were killed in Ahoada West local government Area and two persons still missing.
The Spokesperson also informed Journalists that the party’s Governorship Candidate Pastor Patrick Tonye-Cole will proceed to court to claim his stolen mandate.
Mr. Nwauju urged the police to investigate all the killings that took place in the state with a view of bringing perpetrators to book.
The statement below 👇
RIVERS APC TO GOV WIKE – THERE WAS ELECTORAL BANDITRY IN RIVERS STATE
Our attention has been drawn to some of the comments made by the outgoing Governor of Rivers State, Barr Nyesom Wike on the live broadcast.
- That the capital ‘G’ Governor, unconscious of his audience gave away his coarse, pugilistic, and authoritarian disposition, as he merely revealed every strategy he applied and how he arranged robbery of votes in candidates’ units. As he easily knows the result of each polling unit, maybe before voting started or to justify words on the streets that results were allocated to each candidate several days before the day of the election proper. The infamous broadcast showed how he planned the operations and the marching order he gave against each prominent politician in the state.
- Last Saturday’s election in Rivers State was between APC and INEC, the police, and Gov Wike’s PDP. There was no election in the real sense of it. INEC and the Police brazenly worked together to install Gov Wike’s PDP candidates as winners of the election.
As a party, we have repeatedly raised the alarm about how Gov Wike, using State resources that belong to the Rivers people, compromised key institutions like INEC and the Police. What happened on Saturday was a systemic institutionalized rigging of the elections by Gov Wike with the supposed umpire, INEC, and the police actively doing the bidding of Gov Wike.
Gov Wike’s weak attempt to distance himself from the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu failed woefully. No amount of spin can change the facts Nigerians know, which is that; there exists an unholy alliance between Gov Wike and the INEC chairman.
Gov Wike is gloating that his PDP won elections in Rivers State. But everyone knows that PDP did not win the elections in Rivers State. PDP stole the elections with the active connivance and participation of INEC and the police. They were brazenly and shamelessly allocated votes.
- Then, a part of his interview had him shockingly downplay the death of the Campaign Coordinator of the APC Gubernatorial campaign at Ahoada West and others who were brutally murdered on election day for choosing to exercise their franchise and defending their votes against the marauding PDP rigging machinery which was unleashed across the state too foist his lackey who has not been able to explain to Rivers people how #117billion naira of taxpayer’s money was withdrawn in cash across the counter.
- We are pained but not surprised at the dismissive response offered by the outgoing Governor, in a mindless attempt to explain away the killing of a Ph.D. scholar who incidentally and quite significantly, should have been defending his Doctoral Thesis today, Thursday 23rd March 2023, had his life not been mowed down by bullets of thugs organized by the PDP to forcefully impose themselves on the people of the state against their will. The events of 2023 bear resemblance with the yet-to-be-investigated killings of APC members in 2015 and during the 2016 re-run elections in Rivers State.
- For the avoidance of doubts, Nigerians are invited to note that the following members of the APC, Rivers State chapter, lost their lives in Ahoada West LGA alone on the 18th of March 2023 –
(1) Esor Godspower Ajahu, Ward 10, Unit 01;
(2) Chiosom Lennard Tabele, Ward 10 Unit 02 – LGA Coordinator;
(3) Okpara Chienyere – Unit 01 Ward 10;
(4) Good news Michael Okpara – Anakpo community Ward 8 Unit 5
(5) Two persons still missing in this LGA. - May we remind Nigerians that the event of March 18th and 19th 2023, which witnessed the suppression of votes, bypass of BVAS, intimidation of voters, outright violence, and brutal killings in Rivers State violates Sections 125 and 128 of the 2022 Electoral Act (as amended), can never be forgotten or swept under the carpet by a million broadcasts.
- To further confirm our party’s claim of state-sponsored violence and intimidation of opponents, let us draw the attention of the outgoing Governor of Rivers State and the public to paragraph two of the statement issued yesterday (22nd March 2023) by the United Kingdom on the Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections in Nigeria, thus: “However, there were notable points of concern. Members of our observation mission personally observed violence, and voter suppression in numerous voting locations. We witnessed and received credible reports from other observer missions and civil society organizations of vote buying and voter intimidation, the destruction and hijacking of election materials, and the general disruption of the process in numerous states including Lagos, Enugu, and Rivers”.
- Therefore the failed media stunt by the outgoing Governor, which was to justify the bloody rigging that took place in the state, falls flat in the face of rock-solid evidence corroborated by international observers. No wonder the streets of Port Harcourt went silent immediately after the unfortunate announcement of the PDP candidate was made unlike what happened in Abia state where jubilation broke out as soon as the people’s choice emerged. Little wonder the shunning of a victory party organized for youths at the Elechi Amadi Polytechnic and the few who came refused to dance or rejoice even when organizers begged to justify their pay.
- The APC in Rivers State wishes to state that the two elections held on the 25th of February and 18th of March 2023, signposts our beloved Rivers state as the poster boy of electoral evil for which even foreign governments have warned about a likely slide to God knows where!
- We restate that what has happened in the state in the last two elections amounts to pyrrhic victories obtained through Order 23, which is an unwritten marching order to local government council Chairmen to return Gov Wike’s anointed candidate or get sacked.
- Is it not sobering that the outgoing Governor of Rivers State is the only one gloating over the outcome of these bloody elections when everyone else is moody?. Other election robbers are hiding their faces. Does Gov Wike not know that this is one election where the winners are full of shame while those that didn’t win are being celebrated everywhere? Why not follow other election robbers to hide faces and allow Nigerians to heal?
- The APC in Rivers State wish all those who believe there was anything credible about the last Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections well in their celebrations, after all, bandits, robbers, and terrorists also celebrate after a heist!!