PH Mundial – Port Harcourt Online Newspaper News Across The Region
Related Articles
By Joel Anekwe
House of Assembly candidates of the Accord Party in Rivers State have called for the rescheduling of the entire elections in the state.
This is even as the INEC in Rivers State begins full implementation of its timeline for the conclusion of the suspended Governorship and State House of Assembly elections in the state with a meeting of the electoral body and security agencies in the state.
Their demand is hinged on their conviction that there are substantial evidences to conclude that the governorship and state house Assembly elections did not hold in the state on March 9.
In a communique presented to journalists in Port Harcourt, Friday, the House of Assembly candidates called for a new date to be fixed for fresh Governorship and House of Assembly, and other pending elections in Rives State, within the stipulated time as approved by the Electoral Law.
The communique which was presented by Duke Alamboye K., spokesman of the candidates and candidate for Akuku-Toru State Constituency II, also called for the redeployment of Obo Effanga, the resident electoral commissioner “and other critical staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who participated and were involved in the March 9 election in Rivers State, especially given the fact that they have been victims of the intimidations, harassments, abductions and hostage situations during the election.
“We also state clearly, that we have completely disregarded any earlier declared results in connection with the March 9 polls in Rivers State, as these figures are products contrived from very faulty processes, which have rendered them inchoate and unreliable,” the candidates said.
They explained that as direct participants in the March 9 Rivers State Governorship and house of Assembly elections, they witnessed first-hand, “the ugly situation, which was characterized by the widespread incidences of disruptions of the electoral process in substantial areas of the state as well as the harassment, intimidation and reported maiming, brutalization and loss of lives of Rivers indigenes across the state, including our supporters, which INEC itself has admitted.”
The candidates declared: “We were also aware of the heavy militarization of the electoral process and the dangerously inflammatory rhetorics which were progressively and dangerously rising in frenzied emotional outbursts and heading towards an orgy of bloody crescendo, with frightening expectations of tremendous collateral damage and destruction, if it had not been checked at the time INEC stepped in to suspend the process.
“We make bold to say that rather than abate, the interests that impacted so negatively on the suspended election, have become even more entrenched, the polity has become dangerously polarized and the real situation of an uncontrollable implosion has been exacerbated with the release of the ‘Timeline’ by INEC, which suggests the continuation of the already flawed elections that led to the suspension of all electoral processes in the elections.
“In addition to all these, a plethora of court cases, ranging from the existing political miasma created by INEC, to the unlawful denial of their fundamental rights, by substantive candidates for elective positions in different state constituencies, whose names were erroneously omitted from the list of eligible candidates published by INEC for the March 9 elections in Rivers State, have already been initiated by the aggrieved parties and interests, with the potential prospects of more litigations that are likely to throw Rivers State into a legal quagmire and make the state ungovernable, if INEC proceeds with its ‘Timeline’ activities,” they said.
They argued that INEC, as the constitutionally recognized umpire for the elections had already provided ample, sufficient and irrevocable reason for the rescheduling of the March 9, 2019 Rivers State Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, when it stated in its own initial press release, suspending all electoral process of the elections, that: “Based on reports from our officials in the field, the Independent National Electoral Commission has determined that there has been widespread disruption of elections conducted on March 9 2019 in Rivers State.”
