Rivers guber candidates uncover plans to scuttle Saturday’s election

Gubernatorial Candidates of all the political parties for the 2019 general elections in Rivers State have uncovered plans by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to sabotage the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for next Saturday March 9 across the country.

They alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been comprised by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to miss one party logo on the ballot papers to ignite a legal tussle that could lead to the cancellation of the elections.

Spokesman of the gubernatorial candidates in the state, Pastor Samuel Ihunwo of the Independent Democrats Party (ID), in a press briefing in Port Harcourt last Friday added that where that fails, the Nigeria Army would be used to disrupt, disorganize and scuttle the distribution of election materials from the State Registration Area Centres to the various wards and units across the entire State.

In a statement distributed at the briefing, the Spokesman alleged, “While the people of Rivers State are yet to recover from the pains and trauma of awful violence and bloodletting that characterized last week’s general elections, we have intercepted yet another heinous plan to DELIBERATLY SABOTAGE the March 9th, 2019 Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State in order to advance the partisan interest of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party that is not on the ballot for the said elections.

“According to credible intelligence, the APC has successfully compromised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) TO EXCLUDE THE NAME AND LOGO of one of the political parties from the ballot papers for the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections in Rivers State.”

He went on to say that the supposedly excluded political party would proceed to the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to inevitably nullify the outcomes of the March 9th Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State.

“Equally worrisome is the report that where INEC fails to effect the exclusion of the designated political party from the ballot papers by Wednesday 6th March 2019, the alternative plan is to resort again to the use of the army to disrupt, disorganize and scuttle the distribution of election materials from the State Registration Area Centres to the various wards and units across the entire State,” adding that, “in the event that the elections manages to hold, the plan also includes using operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to harass and force electoral and collation officers to cooperate and comply with the rigging template and directives of the APC.

“Of course, the partisan involvement and subversive activities of the army, especially the General Officer Commanding the 6 Division of the Nigeria Army, Major General Jamil Sarham and his unpatriotic band of soldiers in last week’s Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections are well known to the entire world.

“Indeed, it is on record that the disruption and snatching of elections materials at Okrika was led by one Captain Inuwa, the Aide De Camp to the GOC 6 Division of the Nigeria Army, Major General Sarham. Regrettably, inspite of the hue and cry over their murderous activities in last week’s general election, the army is again, neck deep in the plot to unlawfully assist the APC to disrupt and prevent next week Saturday’s Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections from holding in Rivers State.”

Expressing concern over the militarization of the Presidential and National Assembly elections and the brazen violence, snatching of election materials, harassment and abduction of electoral officers and the wanton killings of innocent persons by the Nigerian Army in Akuku-Toru, Asari-Toru, Ahoada West, Andoni, Bonny, Degema, Emouha, Ikwerre and Okrika Local Government Areas of the State, Pastor Ihunwo, further stressed that as governorship candidates of the various political parties, they were more than committed to the success of the Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections and therefore would neither tolerate, support nor accept any act of commission or omission, deliberate or otherwise, by INEC to either exclude any political party from the ballot papers and or deny the people of Rivers State their God-given rights to peacefully, freely and fairly participate and elect their Governor and State legislators.

The governorship candidates therefore called on INEC to remain absolutely neutral in the politics of Rivers State and ensure that none of the political parties is unlawfully, deliberately or negligently excluded from the ballot papers for the next week Saturday’s Governorship and Hoses of Assembly general elections and demanded for the total exclusion of the army from performing any election duties in Rivers State.