AHEAD of the
governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections, the Rivers State Governor,
Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has accused the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan, of pressurising the Independent National Electoral Commission and
security agencies to rig the governorship election in the state.
Amaechi, who
observed that President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife was in Okrika, her hometown,
for the governorship election, hoped that there would not be a repeat of
alleged electoral malpractices that happened on March 28 in the state.
The
governor, who spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting on Thursday in Port
Harcourt, said the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mrs. Gesila
Khan, already had a mindset of delivering the state to the Peoples Democratic
Party.
He said the
governorship candidate of the PDP, Chief Nyesom Wike, must answer for the
killings in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area.
Amaechi
insisted that INEC must make available original result sheets at all polling
units and called on the people of the state not to allow the election to hold
without result sheets.
The governor
said, “The reason for this meeting is to let you know that what happened on the
28th of March, 2015 may or may not repeat itself. Few days ago, I said it would
not repeat itself. But as at this morning, there are enormous pressure on the
security operatives by the wife of the President.
“There is
also enormous pressure on INEC by the wife of the President. I hope that they
will not repeat the hijacking of results that we witnessed on March 28. In most
of the local government areas, if not all, there were no result sheets. This
time around, I hope they will bring the result sheets to the different units. I
hope they will not forget the result sheets at the collation centre.
“For me as
the governor of Rivers State, what is material to me is that we want to see the
result sheets. We want to ensure that as we vote, our votes will count. Most of
you have been asking this question; who will take over from me? I told you that
we don’t want anybody to force a candidate on us.
“We don’t
want people to be made governor because they want to share our resources. That
is not what we want. We want to be allowed to vote and let our votes be
counted. Let the wife of the President stay in her house. She should not force
a candidate on us.
“They should
tell her that security agencies have assured us that they will allow votes to
count. I assure you that the security agencies will not be biased and I hope
that the security agencies will keep to that. I hope that the woman posted here
as the Resident Electoral Commission would know that her responsibility is not
to allow anybody to see the result sheets.”
Calling on
the electorate not to allow anybody to intimidate them, Amaechi explained that
communities should use the Ubima (his community) formula by locking down their
villages to ensure that nobody would steal their votes.
He warned
that INEC should not endanger the lives of its members of staff by deliberately
withholding the results sheets or failing to do what was expected of them
according to the law.
Amaechi
urged communities not to allow any INEC official to leave until the right
actions were taken in order to ensure a free and fair election.
“Anywhere
there is no result sheets, don’t allow the election to hold. Basically, I don’t
mind the fact that almost all those employed by INEC in the state; collation
officers, electoral officers, are PDP members.
“There will
be no boycott, there will be no refusal to vote. I hope only the right persons
will be there to do the job and the result sheets will be available. If not,
the Rivers State Government cannot determine what happens in the communities,”
he added.
The
governor, however, announced the ban on the use of commercial motorcycles in
areas such as Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, Abua/Odual, Ahoada East
and Ahoada West, described as hot spots, until after the elections.
Cautioning
those in the habit of fomenting trouble in the state to know that power had
changed hands at the centre, Amaechi restated that those involved in
politically-motivated killings in the state would face the law before the end
of his administration.
He disclosed that three persons had been
arrested in connection with politically-motivated killings in the state, adding
that about 400 All Progressives Congress members that were arrested on
trumped-up charges had been released
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