Female activists in Rivers State and youth leaders in the state seem to be on disagreement over the call for the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers State, Obo Effanga from the state.
The female activists, under the aegis of All Female Initiative For Leadership and Empowerment (A-FILE) are demanding for the redeployment of Effanga while the Rivers state Youth Leaders Assembly (RSYLA) are insisting that the REC should be allowed to stay and conclude the collation of results for the suspended March 9 governorship election in the state.
The female activists, who dressed in black attire, staged a peaceful protest to the headquarters of INEC located along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, where they handed over a petition against Effanga, to the Commission’s Head of Civic Education and Publicity, Edwin Enabor for onward transmission to INEC headquarters in Abuja.
The placard-carrying all female protesters, who sang several anti-Effanga songs, also demanded for the total cancellation of the March 9 governorship election in the state, accusing the REC of tampering with results collated from no fewer than 17 local government areas in the state.
Handing over the protest letter to Enabor, leader of the protesters, Rita Gulu Amachree, wondered why INEC refused to do anything about results of the governorship election in the state more than three weeks after the exercise was suspended.
Amachree said: “Today, we have decided to come out and exercise our mandate. On March 9, 2019, we went out to vote; Rivers men, Rivers youths and Rivers men went out to vote. INEC, as it was collating the election declared that it was free and fair and about 16 or 17 local government areas were successfully collated. All of a sudden, INEC suspended the collation of results.
“Later they told us that there had been wide violence; that the election was no longer free and fair. We were all taken aback. They said they are sending a Fact-Finding Committee. We have waited for more than three weeks and we have not heard anything from INEC. An election that has been withheld for more than three weeks, we no longer trust INEC.
“Obo Effanga is not a man we can entrust with out votes any more. Our reason is that he conduct Port Harcourt Constituency 3 election and suspended that election. He conducted the presidential election; it was not concluded in some local government areas, but he went ahead to release the results.
“Again, governorship election; an election that has been concluded, an election that had been concluded in several local government areas. 17 local government areas had been captured and all of a sudden he suspended that election.
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“We the women of Rivers State have looked at all the issues and we don’t want him to conduct elections in this state anymore. We do not trust his leadership anymore. We do not want Obo Effanga near any INEC office anymore. The results of the election we do not trust them anymore. Therefore, we are saying that Obo Effanga and his Administrative Secretary must leave our state. We, the women have decided.”
Meanwhile, the Rivers state Youth Leaders Assembly (RSYLA), has kicked against the call for the redeployment of INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Effanga from the state.
Addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday, Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of RSYLA, Kennedy West, accused the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, of orchestrating violence and intimidation in the state in order to foist his stooge on the peoe
people of the state.
West said: “We, the Rivers state Youth Leaders Assembly an amalgam of notable youth leaders spread across the 23 local government areas of the Rivers State have decided to break the silence over the unsavory political inertia in the state caused by the inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conclude the March 9 Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly election in the state.
“From our findings, the orgy of violence and military intimidation in the state was
orchestrated by the Transportation Minister Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who is still nursing the ambition of ruling Rivers State by installing his puppets in order to rule by proxy. This we find unacceptable, reprehensible and definitely will not work in Rivers State.
“We condemn in the strongest terms, the malicious and ill-motivated calls for the
redeployment of the INEC REC, Obo Effanga who played the constitutional role
allotted to him regardless of the likes of Amaechi and his co-travellers intimidating
Obo Effanga and his staff with wild abandon.
“We commend him for maintaining his
integrity and outrightly refusing to do the bidding of Amaechi’s meticulously
orchestrated script to win election by all means. The state REC, all things considered
deserves commendation for maintaining that the enemies of the state cannot coerce
their way to power through the back door. Obo Effanga should be allowed to collate the Rivers state results and announce the winner without fear or favour.
“We condemn in entirety, the illegal arrest and intimidation by the military perpetrated against PDP stalwarts in different parts of the state. It is most galling and offensive that up till now, innocent PDP stalwarts are still languishing in the custody of the military without any verifiable reason.
More damning and painful is the way and manner the military killed approximately 40 persons in Rivers State all in their obnoxious bid to assist the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi take over this state. For God’s sake, let us pause for minute, is the life of one Rivers state person no longer valuable, that stalwarts of the APC would collude with the military to kill people at will?”
