Rivers rerun: Riggers will be treated as political armed robbers – Wike
Ahead of the forthcoming rerun elections in Rivers State, the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has warned against any malpractices saying any election rigger would be treated as a political armed robber.
The governor who was speaking on a radio programme in Port Harcourt at the weekend declared that the forthcoming legislative rerun elections in the state would be a test of the preparedness of the current Federal Government effort allow for the deepening of democracy.
According to him, the Supreme Court upheld his election on the premise of laid down legal principles applied in all the other governorship appeals , saying that no action was taken to influence the judgment as alleged by the Rivers APC.
The governor warned that the people of Rivers State would not allow the planned use of security agencies to rig the elections to materialise.
According to him, the desperation to rig the forthcoming rerun elections is part of a plot by the APC to capture Rivers State through fraudulent means as they have arranged to write results and go ahead with an impeachment plan.
His words: “They are so desperate to rig the elections. These elections will be a test for democracy in Nigeria”.
The governor said that contrary to claims by the APC, he is not involved in inciting violence as the warning he gave that those who plan to rig the rerun elections will be treated as political armed robbers is in line with similar warnings given by President Muhammadu Buhari before the last general elections.
“If they are coming to do proper elections to let the will of the people to prevail, we will support them. Why are they worried simply because we are fighting political armed robbers”, he said.
On the issue of the Supreme Court judgment which validated his election, Wike said that just like in other governorship elections, the Court held that the Card reader was not superior to the voter register in the accreditation process. He added that the Supreme Court also held that he was not given fair hearing because the second chairman of the Rivers State Governorship Tribunal passed a judgment in a motion that he did not hear.
