The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it will soon conclude arrangements to petition the State Election Tribunal to reclaim its mandate which was stolen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in connivance with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police during the governorship polls of April 11.
Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, disclosed this in a statement issued Friday afternoon in Port Harcourt. He reassured the people of Rivers State that the mandate which they freely gave to the party and to its governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, would soon be retrieved for the good of the future of the State.
“This brazen electoral theft by Chief Nyesome Wike and his PDP gangsters cannot be allowed to stand. These power-drunk anti-democratic elements, in their desperation for power, were not discreet in their electoral fraud that saw the allocation of a bogus over a million votes to Chief Wike. The documents and video tapes so far assembled will surely see many Rivers INEC and PDP chieftains being thrown into jail at the end of the day,” Ikanya said.
Rivers APC declared that it has an iron-cast case against Wike and PDP, saying that it is not surprised that Wike, who cannot win up to 30 per cent of the votes in a free and fair election in Rivers State, is now desperately running from pillar to post in a bid to prevent APC from going to the Tribunal.
“We wish to appeal to our members and the entire people of Rivers State to remain calm and resolute as the party goes to the Tribunal to retrieve their stolen mandate. Our case is as clear as daylight, as even Prof. Wole Soyinka, Ambassador John Endwistle of the United States of America, the European Union Electoral Observers and other international bodies have since testified that the elections purportedly conducted in Rivers State were a sham,” Ikanaya stated.
He said that Wike’s fate had become sealed by the failure to burn the INEC Office in Port Harcourt and with it the evidence of his bare-faced electoral fraud.
“With this development, Chief Wike will now join the league of Sir Celestine Omehia who spent only four months as Governor of Rivers State before he was sacked by the Supreme Court in 2007. This is a case which we shall pursue to a logical conclusion not only to retrieve our stolen mandate but to ensure that the plot of sharing Rivers State Federal Allocation among the ten main key actors of PDP in the State does not materialise,” Dr. Ikanya further stated.
It’s A Futile Decision – PDP
Not scared by the purported threat by the All Progressives Congress, APC, leadership to challenge the Rivers State Governorship Election results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the Tribunal,the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described such decision by the APC as a wasteful venture, expressing optimism that its candidate and the Governor-elect, Chief Nyesom Wike, will still emerge victorious.
The PDP chairman, Bro Felix Obuah in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Media, Jerry Needam, noted that in as much as it is normal and democratic for election result to be challenged justifiably, it finds the Rivers APC’s case as not yielding any positive result, as they do not have any authentic evidence to justify their claims of the exercises being compromised by the INEC officials, the security agencies and the PDP in the State.
The Party, cautioning Gov Amaechi, Dakuku, Ikanya and other APC chieftains on their actions, says it is aware that they have procured and are funding productions of fake and doctored video footages, which are currently being produced in known video studios in Port Harcourt and two other Local Government Council Areas in the State.
Reacting to a statement credited to the State APC chairman, Davis Ibiamu Ikanya, claiming that their effort was to reclaim the party’s mandate, the PDP explains that it was the PDP mandate that was stolen by Gov Amaechi and the APC that has been recovered, stressing that Rivers people have spoken through their overwhelming votes for the PDP and the Governor-elect, Chief Nyesom Wike at the polls.
The PDP has nothing to fear in case Ikanya and his team of bad losers approach the Tribunal. Our concern is the fact that they should rather prepare to go to jail for the numerous electoral frauds committed not only in Rivers but in other States during the March 28 and April 11 elections, including Sokoto, Kano, Abia, Imo, Kaduna, Banchi, Jigawa etc.
The PDP also expressed concerns and called attention of the International community and INEC to the continued hiring of groups and local people, decorating them as foreign or accredited local observers .
PDP said it is regrettable that Chief Ikanya and his co-travelers have refused to accept the reality and join forces with the real progressives and democratic minds to move the State forward.
The PDP therefore, called on the public not to be deceived by the lies peddled around by the APC supporters about the upturning of the election results as such is an imagination of underdogs, calling on Rivers people to support the incoming governor, Chief Nyesom Wike who has assured State of better deal.
