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By Joel Anekwe
The Coalition of Gubernatorial Candidates, comprising governorship candidates of all the political parties for the 2019 general elections in Rivers State, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of successfully compromising 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 the state.
This, the coalition alleged would encourage the excluded political party to seek redress with Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to inevitably nullify the outcome of the March 9 governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State.
Alerting newsmen of their discovery in a press briefing on Thursday the governorship candidates, who spoke through Ihunwo Samuel, chairman, Rivers State Coalition of Gubernatorial Candidates, said: “We are astonished at INEC motivations for becoming an accessory to such treacherous acts, which offer the most simple but lethal legal ground and weapon to any mischievous person or political party to nullify the said elections and terminate the rights of Rivers people to enjoy the fruits of their votes in the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections.”
They also expressed worry about the report that the plan was such that where INEC fails to effect the exclusion of the designated political party from the ballot papers by Wednesday March 6, 2019, the alternative would be 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.
“Furthermore, in the event that the elections manage 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,” the candidates stated.
They noted 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 Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections,” saying that it was 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, in spite 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,” they lamented.
They expressed their commitment to the success of the elections in Rivers State, saying “we 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 come 9th of March 2019”.
“To this end, we call on INEC to remain absolutely neutral in the politics of Rivers State and ensure that none of the politic parties is unlawfully, deliberately or negligently excluded from the ballot papers for the next week Saturday’s governorship and Hoses of Assembly general elections.
“Furthermore we categorically demand the total exclusion of the army from performing any election duties in Rivers State as we do not want more of our people to be killed in cold blood as they did in last week Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“We join the people of Rivers State and the rest of humanity to say in clear terms that: enough of the killings, disruptions of the electoral process and massive disenfranchisement of the people of Rivers State by INEC the army as they did in last week Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“We call on Mr. President, the Chief of Army Staff and the chairman of INEC in the name of God to ensure that the army is prohibited from election duties in Rivers State.
“We further call on the APC, which is not on the ballot for next week Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State, to give peace a chance and repent from its devilish plot to destabilize, kill and destroy innocent lives and property in the State. There is nothing to gain from destroying the State and killing your own people for nothing,” they said.
