The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has expressed the hope that the February 23, 2019 National Assembly elections may be repeated in the state if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fails
to relist its candidates on the ballot.
It accused the state resident electoral commissioner (REC) in the state, Obo Effanga, of working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and called on INEC headquarters to redeploy him.
The embattled APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, told newsmen yesterday in Port Harcourt that the truth about the actual legal position had been made clear at the highest level of the electoral body.
Cole said: “I want to start by telling our supporters in APC and around the state that not only will we participate in the elections, we will win them. It is better to be prepared, than for the opportunity to come and we are not prepared. The opportunity is coming. Be prepared.
“I have been reliably informed that the truth about the actual legal position has now been made clear at the highest levels in INEC.
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“We expect the right thing will now be done to avoid excluding the APC, because failure to do so will mean the election into the National Assembly seats scheduled to hold on Saturday will have to be repeated.
“Two options exist for INEC if they want to be on the right side of the law. The first is to put our logo on the ballot. Failing that, they are left only with one other option. That will be to postpone the election for National Assembly and hold it at a later date. If either option is not exercised, the appropriate legal actions will be activated,” he said.
The state APC publicity secretary e, Chris Finebone, accused INEC of recruiting card-carrying members of the PDP as ad-hoc staff for the rescheduled general elections.
Finebone said: “Card-carrying members of PDP have been recruited as ad-hoc staff of INEC for the general elections in Rivers State. The PDP wants to populate the SPOs and POs for the elections.
“We are therefore demanding the redeployment of the REC, Obo Effanga from Rivers State. INEC and PDP are collaborating to rig the elections,” he said.
