The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has
demanded for the cancellation of the results of Saturday’s governorship
and State House of Assembly elections in the state and the conduct of
fresh elections.
In a petition dated April 12 to the Chairman of
the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru
Jega, the party alleged that the Commission’s officials colluded with
security operatives to
compromise the integrity of the electoral process
in virtually all the 23 local government areas of the state.
The
APC alleged in the petition, signed by its chairman, Davies Ibiamu, that
the electoral officers in almost all the local government areas
withheld the unit, ward and local government result sheets and handed
over ballot papers to the PDP thugs guarded by heavily armed soldiers,
police and State Security Service operatives.
It said in direct contradiction of the INEC Chairman’s directive that
card readers must be used for the election, the Resident Electoral
Commissioner in the state, Geisla Khan, directed the electoral officers
to ignore the card readers and manually accredit voters.
The party
said in more than 70 per cent of the polling units where there were
semblance of elections, the officials refused to utilize the card
readers.
It claimed that the sole purpose of the refusal to
utilize the card readers was to defeat the avowed objectives of the card
readers which are the prevention of rigging through unlawful
thumb-printing of ballot papers and writing of results for persons who
were never accredited and who never voted.
The APC also said in most units the card readers were not issued to presiding officers.
“We submit that the failure and refusal to use the card readers in
more than two-third of the local government areas in the state is, by
itself, substantial, non-compliance and sufficient ground for immediate
cancellation of the elections,” it said.
The
APC also said in various petitions dated March 29 and April 1, it
demanded the removal of Mrs. Khan and the Head of Operations, Ekong
Boco, on ground of abuse of office, bias and prejudice against it.
It
however said “in spite of the proven weighty grounds upon which our
petition was founded, and for inexplicable reasons, Mrs. Khan and Mr.
Boco were allowed to conduct the elections with calamitous miscarriage
of justice, which can only be remedied by the cancellation of the
purported elections”.
The APC noted that the shameful conduct of
INEC officials it highlighted clearly defeated the objective for the
commission’s existence.
The APC added, “Majority of voters were disenfranchised and the will subverted because INEC officials were compromised.
“A
number of INEC officials were apprehended with cash received from the
PDP Governorship candidate who allegedly paid N20,000,000 (Twenty
Million Naira) as bribe to each Electoral Officer.
“It will be
unconscionable to allow the outcome of a process so outrageously flawed
to stand. The only fair and just conclusion that can and ought to be
reached in the circumstance is that no elections took place in Rivers
State.”
The party also said the elections in the state failed due to violence, killings and hijack of electoral materials.
It
specifically stated that there were no elections in four local
government areas, namely Abua Odual, Asari Toru, Akuku Toru and Gokana,
because materials for the conduct of the polls were either destroyed in
the cause of violence or the materials were never delivered to the
polling units.
It said despite the obvious fact that there was no
voting in the local government areas, INEC officials declared fictitious
results.
The party said, “On behalf of the members of the APC and
the electorates in Rivers State, we most respectfully request you, Mr.
Chairman, to passionately consider the above and to order the immediate
cancellation of the April 11th 2015 Governorship and House of Assembly
Elections in Rivers State.
“In the interest of justice and fairness we demand that a fresh election
be scheduled to be conducted by a Resident Electoral Officer and
Electoral Officers (E.O) who, in your esteemed opinion are people of
unquestionable integrity.”
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