The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, has demanded the redeployment of Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mr Aniedi Ikoiwak, for allegedly colluding with Governor Nyesom Wike and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to rig the December 10 rerun legislative elections in the state in favour of PDP.
The Rivers APC Chairman, Chief Davies Ikanya, made the demand in a statement he signed on Monday in Port Harcourt. According to him, the revelation of the unholy partnership between Wike and Mr Ikoiwak to deny the Rivers State electorate a voice during the rerun election, necessitated the call for the redeployment of the INEC Commissioner.
The statement said: “Mr Ikoiwak had the audacity to announce PDP’s George Sekibo as a Senator without adding votes from three LGAs of Etche, Emohua and Ikwerre LGAs which would have made APC’s Andrew Uchendu the winner. Based on this, we wish to ask Sekibo, Osinakachukwu Ideozu and their likes in PDP not to celebrate their fake victories as we will not allow killers of our people to lead us but will use every constitutional means at our disposal to retrieve the mandate given to our candidates by the voters.”
Rivers APC said that the audio tape were Wike was purported to be threatening some INEC staff was a damning evidence of the governor’s complicity in electoral fraud.
The party said: “With this latest revelation we have been vindicated that Wike is the most bloodthirsty Governor in Nigeria who if not checked will surely derail our democracy. Who knows how many Rivers State people that Wike and his PDP hoodlums would have killed for the sake of electoral victory if not for the Police and other security agencies?
“Having watched the outbursts of Wike before, during and after the December 10 rerun election, we have come to the conclusion that Wike is nothing but a comical tyrant and blackmailer who needs to be reined in before he derailed our hard-won nascent democracy. Gov. Wike has not ceased to accuse the Army, DSS, Police, INEC and APC leadership of collaborating to cause havoc during the rerun election while in actual fact he is the brain perpetuating all the ballot snatching of INEC sensitive materials and fake announcements of induced INEC results.”
The APC wondered how it could be working with the Police to force INEC to rig the rerun election, when PDP candidates were declared as winners in most of the results declared by INEC. The party asked: “How come a Police Officer, DSP Mohammed Alkali was brutally beheaded with his aide at the usual spot where PDP hoodlums kill other security agents at Omoku?”
Addressing the issue of Police Probe Panel on the seventy incidents reported by the INEC, the APC insisted that Wike must submit himself to the Police probe to assist in unearthing those responsible for the killings in Rivers State.
Rivers APC commended the courage displayed by the Ogonis by voting overwhelmingly for the party’s candidates but also stoutly defending their votes. It added: “Not minding the tyranny of Wike, the Ogonis have proved that they are truly soldiers of democracy by ensuring that their son Magnus Abe was duly elected Senator, thereby shaming Wike and his army of undemocratic elements and appreciating the Ogoni clean-up initiative of President Muhammdu Buhari.”
