- Says reposting of compromised policemen aimed at rigging rerun elections, destroying Rivers security
- Wike stop threatening everyone – APC
- Civil Society Groups Condemn Wike’s Utterances
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has accused the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmud Yakubu of taking actions that are inimical to credible rerun elections in Rivers State by his secret meeting with the Rivers State APC chairman, Davies Ikanya and Senator Magnus Abe on July 19, 2016.
Addressing thousands of PDP supporters at the Rivers East PDP Senatorial Campaign Rally at Okehi, Etche Local Government Area, Wike also regretted the unfortunate posting of compromised policemen to Rivers State with the aim of damaging the security network ahead of the rerun elections.
Wike further accused the INEC National Chairman of concluding plans to postpone the July 30, 2016 rerun elections in deference to the fear of defeat expressed by the leadership of Rivers State APC.
He wondered why anyone would be happy to destroy Rivers State just because they want to satisfy the politician who funded APC national elections efforts using Rivers State resources.
The governor said: “They are frustrating elections in Rivers State because of one man who sponsored elections for APC. They have posted electoral officers from APC states to rig elections and they want to accede to the request of the Rivers State APC to post out the Resident Electoral commissioner.
“But the truth is that nobody can rig elections in Rivers State. The INEC National Chairman only has the power to postpone elections, but he has no power to rig elections here.
“As I speak to you on 19th of July, 2016, the APC chairman, Davies Ikanya, Senator Magnus Abe and others, 7.30 to 8pm were with the INEC National Chairman in his office.
“Rivers State is key to the development of this country. Will they continue to deny us representation at the Senate and majority of the constituencies of the House of Representatives?”
He called on the people of Rivers State to continue to resist every attempt by INEC to rig elections in the state because power resides with the people.
According to Wike: “You saw what happened in Turkey where the people effectively resisted the Army who plotted a coup to dethrone an elected government. Here in Rivers State, the people will resist any attempt to use compromised security personnel to rig the polls”.
The governor said that the APC are not campaigning for the rerun elections because of the assurances they have received that the elections will be rigged in their favour.
He noted that just as the Rivers APC backed by security agencies could not swap the result sheets handed over to them by compromised INEC officials on March 19, 2016, so they will fail when the forthcoming rerun elections are conducted as a result of the vigilance of the people.
He reiterated that anyone posted to Rivers State with the aim of rigging the elections should inform his family the location of his hidden wealth as he will face the treatment reserved for armed robbers.
Commenting on the politicised posting of compromised senior police officers to Rivers State, governor said that he has written four letters to the new inspector general of police on the issue and made 45 calls to the police chief on the issue without getting a response.
Speaking further, he said the new inspector general of police posted Mr. Akin Fakorede, the former Officer in Charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad distributed fake SARS uniforms to APC thugs during the March 19 rerun elections leading to the death of several innocent Rivers people. He also accused Fakorede of embezzling N18 million meant for the rehabilitation of armoured personnel carrier before he fled the state after the rerun.
Wike accused the inspector general of police of posting one Mustapha back to the state after ran away upon his false testimony at the Tribunal. He stated that Mike Tarfa now heads Mopol 56 in Bori one of the major locations of the rerun elections.
He added that the Police High Command has also reposted one Stephen Hasso, former Officer in Charge of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, back to the state after the same officer publicly declared that he will destroy the security network in the state. He informed that Hasso will now head the operations department of police in the state.
Meanwhile, the reaction of the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the wild and unconscionable assertions of Governor Nyesom Wike at Okehi today is that this must be the classical case of an evil workman quarrelling with his tools, his neighbours and passers-by.
Let it be on record that neither Chief (Dr) Davies Ibiamu Ikanya JP nor the Rivers State South-East Senatorial Candidate of the APC, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, separately or as a group, met with the Chairman of INEC or any INEC personnel at the Commission’s Headquarters or anywhere else as contrived by Gov. Wike. If the governor claims to have any information suggesting that any such meeting took place, he should feel free to make the details public for the benefit of all.
The APC in Rivers State is indeed ready to participate in the forthcoming rerun election as scheduled by INEC. The PDP should not bother themselves as to the modus of campaign of the APC. We are at liberty to reach the electorate the best way we can. If our style is devoid of the typical razzmatazz, so be it.
While the APC would not serve as an advocate or mouthpiece for federal institutions and personalities, it is important for us to state that this callous and mindless mudslinging by Wike on INEC and security agencies is true-to-type especially when he wants to stir the water muddy in order to create a smokescreen to perpetrate his evil machinations. The potpourri of blackmail, threats and empty bravado are all part of his curious style of politics.
We are very sure that establishments like the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], its Chairman and those in charge of the nation’s security services are eminently placed and able to respond to the ragtag and thuggish blackmail by Nyesom Wike.
The APC wishes to call on security agencies to take notice that governor has once again started issuing the kind of death threats that resulted into the killing of over 100 persons before, during and after the 2015 general elections and the subsequent rerun elections. We call on the Inspector-General of Police and heads of other security agencies to firmly hold Wike responsible for any loss of life on the part of the people, residents, electoral and security personnel in Rivers State especially during the forthcoming rerun elections. Immunity should not be a license for Wike to carry on lawlessly. Rivers State is not and will never be turned into a jungle by a single individual because of his inordinate and obscene desires and cravings.
Thereafter, The group, Coalition of Civil Society Non – Governmental Organizations in Rivers State have condemned in totality Governor Wike’s utterances on the Nigeria police force, describing it as meddlesomeness and an intrusion into the official freedom and the power of the Inspector General of Police to determine and decide which police officer to be given responsibility and where such an officer should be sent to perform his or her duties
Speaking to news men in Port Harcourt, the coordinator of coalition of civil society organizations in Rivers State and second Vice president of the Rivers Pathfinders, Comrade Gregory Iyala Georgewill described Wike’s outburst against the police high command at a PDP Rivers East senatorial rally held at Okehi, Etche LGA Head quarters on Thursday 21st day of July, 2016, as “not only provocative, but also amounts to recklessness”.
The group advised governor to “stop the politics of blackmail and brigandage as the people of Rivers State have become wiser not to tolerate his acts of hooliganism which have become stock in trade of Gov Wike”, Georgewill stressed.
Also collaborating the popular opinion of Rivers people on the recklessness of Wike in his attitude in public comments in the past one year, the coordinator of another civil society group, Alliance for Transparency and Good Governance, Hon. Erasmus Obele Nwankpa, said that ” Wike can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time. Our people are fed up with the practice of blackmailing people to get his way. We can no longer tolerate this and it is important that Wike is told in clear terms that his antics has failed him and cannot work again”, Nwankpa emphasize.
Also speaking, the public relation officer of Vanguard for Justice, Equity and Strategy, another civil society non – governmental organization, Barrister Jerome Alali Green, described governor’s approach and attitude as” crude and uncivilized “, arguing that,” it is only in Rivers State that a character of the type of Wike can be seen and heard as this will not be acceptable in any other part of the world “.
“Why should governor think in his wildest imagination that he can hold everybody in Rivers State to ransom? What quality does Wike possess that makes him think that he has the magnitude of the latitude that he arrogates to himself to speak to Rivers people or take decision on their behalf in such an uncultured manner”, Green queries.
The group in their opinions, Wike, Rivers people had made an unforgivable and unforgettable mistake in not understanding the ripple effect of a character of the type of governor, warning that “it will no longer be business as usual and never again should Rivers people tolerate governor style of psychological warfare and intimidation game”.
“The power and prerogative to hire and post police officers in Nigeria is the exclusive responsibility of the Nigeria police force under the Inspector General of Police, who currently is Mohamed Idris, in whom Nigerians and, indeed, the good people of Rivers State have confidence in his capacity and capability to take the right decision in the overall interest of the citizens and residents in Rivers State, irrespective of whether or not those so chosen are the choice of governor. Wike have become unbearably notorious in challenging the federal government of Nigeria and her agencies, before now, it was INEC and judiciary, today it is the Nigeria police, tomorrow may be the turn of the armed forces”, the group insisted.
