Gentlemen of the Press, it is obvious that Rivers State has been in a state of quagmire arising from the illegal decision of INEC on the just concluded Governorship & House of Assembly Election in Rivers State to suspend the election process.
The initiative for transparent strategy & Good leadership cannot fold its hands, to see INEC collaborate with a candidate to perpetuate evil to change the will of the masses.
It is obvious that on the 10th of March,2019 INEC suspended all the election processes in Rivers State citing wide spread violence and interference by the military as an excuse.
The same INEC that suspended the processes based on wide spread violence, has now come up with results emanating from 17 Local Government Areas in Rivers State to be collated and announce on Wednesday 20th of March 2019.
Governor Wike on the 15th of March 2019 addressed his supporters that his victory is sure, knowing that his plans has been perfected by the INEC.
Thereafter, the much awaited panel’s report came up and Inec took its decision, which almost tally with the press release of the Rivers State PDP Chairman. How this came to a reality, is still unknown to us.
As an NGO that is bent on transparency and good leadership, we demand to know the followings from Inec:
(1) How did they arrive at their decision on the 17 Local Government Areas that election was peaceful and some results collated?
(2) Will the further collation of the 17 Local Government Area results, be done at the ward, Local Government Areas or Rivers State Office of the commission since normalcy has returned.
(3) If election was peaceful in 17 Local Government Areas, why did they suspend the election processes in the entire state citing wide spread violence, knowing that 17 is greater than 6 or is reverse the case.
(4) In whose custody are the results to be collated since Obo Efenga, the REC in Rivers State denied been in custody of the 17 Local Government Areas on a live radio interview in Rhythm viewpoint Saturday 16th of March, 2019.
(5) Can the change of the four collation officers on election day without notifying the electorate and political parties be said to have met with the requirements of the law? Who were those changed? In the LGA’s where results were declared by both the former and later, which one takes effect since the political parties and the electorate where only aware of the former without the changes? What are the identities of these allegedly changed and those who replaced them?
(6) Why is Inec silent in all the allegations by political parties, individuals and interest groups against Obo Efanga and other Inec staff? Will Obo Efanga be allowed to complete the suspended processes when the electorate and majority of the political parties in Rivers State are saying he is bias by using know PDP members as collation officers both in ward and LGA level?
(7) Why was the result of Phalga Constituency III conducted by Obo Efanga not released after election till today? Has Inec become Waec & Jamb that has been withholding results? Which law that Empowers Inec to withhold results?
(8) Why has Inec refused to let us know who, where and when was the results in their custody collated.
(9) Why is Governor Wike who is in the habit of threatening Inec officials to write their wills while coming to conduct elections in Rivers State suddenly changed to supporting all actions of Inec in Rivers State? Wike is now Inec’s “BRIDE”.
(10) How will Inec reconcile its statement suspending the election and the continuation of the collation based on the report of the fact finding committee.
(11) Why has Inec refused to make the report of the fact finding committee public before taking a decision on continuing collation in Rivers State.
(12) Why is Inec silent and not making public its decision in the case of Obio/Akpor where Governor Wike went to the collation centre with armed thugs that shot and beat up security agencies, kidnapped the electoral officer and the returning officer and made away with all the result sheets?
In conclusion of this part, we hereby demand as follows:
(1) That Inec must answer the above questions before any other action with respect to tampering with further collations and rerun election in Rivers State.
(2) That on refusal as stated above, we will take all legal means to stop Inec from collating results, announcing winner and conducting rerun election in Rivers State.
On the Nigeria movie surrounding the death of Dr. Ferry Gberegbe and the allegations against ACP Akin Fakorode and security agencies, we state as follows:
(1) That we commend ACP Akin Fakorode and the security agencies for being professional in discharging their duties without fear or favour
(2) That ACP Akin Fakorode’s uncompromising attitude has been his offence against Governor Wike and the Rivers State Government.
(3) That the allegations that the late Dr. Ferry Gberegbe was shot by the Sars operatives cannot be said to be true because even the video on social media could not show a single drop of blood from the body of late Dr. Ferry Gberegbe arising from the gun shot. The said late Dr. Ferry Gberegbe was wearing a Milk colour chinose that any little stain could easily be identified, yet in all, there was no stain of blood. This is really a magic.
(4) That Governor Wike promised to set up a panel of inquiry to probe into the killing of late Dr. Ferry Gberegbe is just to witch hunt the security operatives who has refused to compromise security in Rivers State. Governor Wike has already alleged that the death of Dr. Ferry Gberegbe was committed by Sars operatives and he cannot be a juge in his own case by setting up a panel of inquiry.
(5) That even while autopsy result is yet to be out, Governor Wike has already pronounced his judgment.
(6) That it is very unfortunate that of all those that died starting from the presidential election to the Governorship, the only one that pained Wike is the death of Dr. Ferry Gberegbe, others does not mean anything to him. May the souls of those that died including that of Mowan Etete rest in peace. Amen.
(7) That Governor Wike is clearly making himself the Governor of some persons and not the Governor of Rivers State.
In conclusion, we hereby urge ACP Akin Fakorode and the Security Agencies not to be deterred in their quest to free Rivers State from criminal elements.
Chizy Enyi ESQ.
President General.