APC blames postponement of Rivers rerun on PDP
(Nigeria) The Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, on Tuesday, said it received the news of the postponement of the July 30, rerun election in Rivers State with mixed feelings, adding that its instinctive response was that of huge disappointment considering that it will further deny the people parliamentary representations at both the national and state levels while the pressure on its candidates to sustain their campaigns continues apace.
The APC in a statement by its Spokesman, Senibo Finebone
said, “However, considering the reasons adduced by the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, for the postponement, the APC believes that had
members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led by Governor Nyesom Wike
abandoned their official policy of resorting to violence as a tool for seeking
political power, the postponement of the rerun elections would have been
unnecessary.
“Indeed, we blame the postponement on the sustained violence
and killings orchestrated by the PDP in
Rivers State.”
“The latest of the string of violence the PDP has been
perpetrating in the state is the burning down of INEC office in Bori last
Friday morning after Wike’s hate speech against INEC and APC leaders a few
hours earlier at Okehi.
“Just before the
March 19 rerun elections, Wike employed the use of hate speech as his battle
cry, calling on his followers to stop Senator Magnus Abe. Days later, the
Senator’s campaign office in Bori was bombed and burnt down. Last Thursday, Governor
Wike was at his game once again.
‘Speaking at his party’s Rivers East PDP campaign rally at
Okehi, Etche LGA, Wike let out his usual battle cry and less than 24 hours
later, those believed to be his foot soldiers bombed and burnt down the INEC
office in Bori, the South-East senatorial zonal headquarters of Senator Magnus
Abe.
“A critical look at the modus operandi of the two bombings
reveal close similarities and imprints, suggesting that those responsible for
the first bombing most likely undertook the latest arson on the INEC office.
“The APC finds it curious that as soon as the INEC facility
was bombed in Bori, the most virulent critic of INEC, Wike, turned around to
offer the electoral umpire a Greek gift to the effect that INEC could relocate
to the Khana council. It does not call for any strenuous reasoning to conclude
that PDP members know more than they are telling the world about the bombing of
the INEC office in Bori in order to force the electoral umpire to relocate to a
PDP facility.
“Why did Gov. Wike not provide the INEC office same security
that he says the Council enjoys? The APC
calls on the Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of the Department of
State Services, DSS, the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Police Command
and other security agencies to diligently investigate, fish out and prosecute
all those who may have a hand in the spate of killings, arson and violence in
Rivers State.
“Wholesome peace must be restored in Rivers State so that
violence does not continue to be a reason to deny the people representation in
the political milieu.”
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