Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has raised the alarm of a plot by security agencies and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to kidnap the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state to create an excuse for the postponement of the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
He declared that the state government had also intercepted credible intelligence that the APC also plans to use the security agencies to generate mass violence to disrupt the distribution of electoral materials on March 9, 2019to compel INEC to postpone the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
Wike, who spoke yesterday at Ahoada, headquarters of Ahoada-East local government area of the state, during a town hall meeting for Rivers West Senatorial District, decried the situation where the APC and security are working illegally to postpone the elections on the basis of contrived violence.
The governor said: “They are struggling to ensure that the Governorship and State Assembly elections don’t hold in Rivers State. The APC is planning with security agencies to kidnap the Rivers State Independent National Electoral Commission.
“They will send people wearing army uniforms to kidnap the Resident Electoral Commissioner so that INEC will be forced to postpone the elections. That is their latest strategy and so I have to let the world hear that if anything happens, they should hold the APC and security services responsible.
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“These people are not kidnappers, they are security agents organised by security agencies working for APC to see that the Governorship and State Assembly elections don’t hold in Rivers State.
“These security agencies have been organised to ensure that the elections are postponed. This ugly plan has failed. I am calling on Nigerians to take note of this undemocratic plot.
“We have also gathered that the APC and security agencies plan to disrupt the distribution of electoral materials and compel INEC to postpone the Governorship and State Assembly elections”.
He wondered why some politicians are keen on unleashing violence on innocent Rivers people.
Wike said: “Since we have known the plot, it will fail. I don’t know just because you want power, you go to extreme. Why arm youths to kill people so that elections will not hold?’’
The governor urged the people of Rivers West Senatorial District to be vigilant all through the Governorship and State Assembly elections for the purpose of ensuring that the elections hold in line with the extant laws .
He said rather than plot the disruption of elections, APC leaders should test their popularity by supporting another political party during the March 9 elections.
Wike stated that the presence of his administration is felt across the eight local government areas of Rivers West Senatorial District.
He urged the people of Rivers State not to be discouraged by the loss of the Presidential election by the PDP, saying that National leadership of the party is following the legal route the retrieve the people’s mandate.
