SAN FRANCISCO, November 24, (THEWILL) – Ahead of the December 10 rerun election in Rivers State, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has alleged that some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in cohort with leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, are recruiting card-carrying APC members as electoral personnel, including presiding and returning officers and other INEC ad hoc staff for the election.
The state PDP chairman in Rivers state, Bro. Felix Obuah, who made this allegation in a statement, added that his party believes that INEC has commenced secret training of those APC card-carrying members to be deployed for the election, stressing that some candidates of the APC, who wrote and submitted the names to INEC for the re-run elections, have been holding secret meetings with them.
According to the statement, “To further cement their plan and ensure instructions are carried out absolutely, on Tuesday, November 22, 2016, APC candidate for Okrika/Ogu-Bolo Federal constituency, Maureen Tamuno, met with some of those APC – INEC adhoc staff at a hotel in Rumuokoro, near Port Harcourt, during which she instructed the APC – INEC adhoc staff to co-operate, and also made monetary promises to them.
“Her words, “I can assure you that we are through with the results for the State legislative elections coming up on 10/12/2016, even though only few were left, and that INEC, some NGOs and security agents are solely behind us.”
“She was quoted to have claimed that Rotimi Amaechi has finalized private security arrangements for Okrika and the rest parts of the State.
“Similarly, the APC candidate for Rivers South- East Senatorial district, Mr. Magnus Abe was during the week, particularly Wednesday, November 23, 2016, reported to have held clandestine meetings with the APC-INEC adhoc staff in a hotel, off Ada George Road, in Obio/Akpo LGA.”
Obuah went on to appeal to the security agencies, civil society organizations and other stakeholders, including the media, to rise to their responsibilities in defending the Constitution of Nigeria and ensure strict adherence to the provisions of relevant sections of the Electoral Acts, which forbid card-carrying members of political parties from being entrusted with certain responsibilities.
He particularly urged security agencies not to compromise the integrity of this very important election in the State but to conduct themselves in a manner that would correct the unfavorable public perception of their operations during conduct of recent elections in the State, urging them to be apolitical to save Rivers State from potential crisis.
The state party chairman also called on lecturers and all those recruited by the INEC to ensure absolute peace and fairness at all locations and areas they are deployed to during the elections, as doing that will allow peace reign in the State even after the exercise.
He charged, “INEC to, in the interest of fair-play and respect for the rule of law, delete names of APC card-carrying members recruited as ad hoc staff to do the bidding of the party from its list, and “challenged the APC to stop engaging in acts capable of truncating the electoral process and subvert the popular decision of the electorate but to conduct itself in a manner expected of a responsible party”.
Obuah however appealed to members of the PDP to remain peaceful but to religiously guide their votes and ensure the authentic results from the various units are not tampered with.
