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 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 pressures 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," Amaechi said.
Calling on the electorates 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 boycotting, 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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