On Thursday, February 14, 2019, barely 48 hours to the aborted Presidential and National Assembly elections, candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State and their supporters staged a peaceful protest to the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), located along the ever-busy Aba Road in Port Harcourt.
The mission of the protesters, led by Nigeria’s Ambassador to The Netherlands and APC candidate for Rivers South-East senatorial district, Ambassador Oji Ngofa, was to demand for the relisting of the party and all its candidates on the ballot, following a ruling of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, which revalidated its earlier order staying the execution of the judgement of the Federal High Court.
The protesters, who were chanting war songs, blocked the main entrance of the INEC office thereby denying officials of the electoral body and visitors access into the complex. The commission later suspended the distribution of sensitive materials for the election, citing the protest by the APC chieftains and their supporters as the main reason.
Attempts by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Obo Effanga, to gain access into his office was resisted by the protesters who forced the driver of the white Toyota Hilux van to retreat.
Addressing newsmen, Ngofa said they will not leave the INEC office until the electoral body obeys the order of the courts and relist the APC and all it’s candidates in the ballot.
Ngofa said: “We have come here peacefully to compel INEC to obey the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria. APC has a Stay of Execution order on INEC on the Federal High Court judgement of January 7, 2019. That judgement has been stayed by the Appeal Court.
“We are shocked and displeased with the fact that INEC was in a hurry to delist candidates of APC on the basis of Omotosho’s judgement but has refused to act on an Appeal Court order staying the execution of that judgement.
We are shocked that INEC will choose the court orders to obey and the ones not to obey.
“We are here today to tell INEC that INEC must obey the laws of this country. All that the Supreme Court has ruled on are all applications that do not bother on the substance of appeal. That is why the Supreme Court asked us to go back to Court of Appeal. We are back to the Appeal Court that stayed the execution of that judgement. INEC is conniving with PDP.”
Reacting to the development, the State Executive Committee (SEC) of APC in the state, expressed confidence that candidates of the party will be on the ballot for Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt shortly after the SEC meeting, Publicity Secretary of APC in the state, Chris Finebone, declared that INEC has no other choice than to relist candidates of the party in the ballot for the forthcoming general elections in line with the orders of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
Finebone said: “After a meeting of the State Working Committee (SEC) of our party where we meticulously deliberated on the recent rulings of various courts, especially the decision of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt yesterday, which reaffirmed its earlier Order that stayed the execution of the judgement of the lower court, there were some reasons to say the APC and its candidates will most certainly he on the ballot this Saturday.
“No Order or judgement, given since, including orders of the Supreme Court on both jurisdiction and representation has said otherwise. We opted not to rely on media circuits to convene our right to be included unlike many news reports that were suggesting that we were dead and buried.
“We have since seen the orders and the Supreme Court judgement on stay of execution, which proved beyond reasonable doubt that INEC has an obligation to relist APC or risk being sanctioned for excluding us and disobeying a subsisting court order.
“We hail, once again both the decision of the Stay of Execution granted by the Court of Appeal recently and their reaffirmation of it yesterday. This decisions show that nothing is stopping INEC from relisting APC on the ballot.
“We welcomed the move by INEC to put us back on the ballot as the alternative would have confirmed to us once more the genuine fear that the INEC is working for the PDP.
“We wish to state adviceablly that obedience to the rule of law is the best antidote to anarchy. In the circumstances, we urge INEC to speedily obey the rule of law and return our great party to its rightful place. We are only demanding the right of beat and nothing more.”
To the Minister of Transportation and leader of APC in the state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, accused INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu of working with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, in order to disenfranchise members of the APC in the state.
Amaechi said: “I know that everybody has been expecting me to talk on the court cases but I will not because I am just a member of the party. The party chairman has already said that the INEC is working for the PDP.
“An example that INEC is working for the PDP is a fact that there is a stay of execution granted by the Court of Appeal, just because the INEC Chairman was Director of TETFUND under Wike as Minister of State for Education, he now chooses the Court order to implement and the one not to implement.
“Obviously, he is trying to assist Wike become a second term governor on this election. We understand his game but we believe in the Judiciary. You heard the President when he said that the injustice will be addressed. We will deal with the justice and not the judgement.
“As I told you, we are going out on Saturday to vote for President Buhari. If INEC decides to obey the stay of execution, then we will arrange for election on Saturday.
“But since the INEC Chairman is working for the PDP and since he does not want to obey the Court decisions, he was a Director of TETFUND when Wike was junior Minister, so be it. God bless him.”
Amaechi, who is also the Director-General of Buhari Reelection Campaign Organization, also accused Wike of influencing a High Court judgment against the APC in the state.
“Whatever Wike wants on Saturday, we will give him. Whatever the PDP wants in Rivers State, we are equal to the task. It’s as simple as that. It gets to a stage where a man must be a man. Your Excellency, I’m not going to Abuja anymore. I am here from today till (Election Day).
“In 2015, the army tried to arrest me as a sitting governor. You have a governor who is busy lobbying us, trying to negotiate with us, ‘Let us give you presidency, you give me governor.’ He is afraid. We will battle him to the last. On Saturday, they should get ready.
“The support we want is that the President should just thank us when we finish. We are ready for them. They used federal and state institutions against us. They kill our people, APC people, every day; cut off their necks every day.
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“Wike was my chief of staff. I made him chairman of council. I nominated him as a minister. When he saw Goodluck, he betrayed me. I have been betrayed serially, including senators. After you finish helping them, after praying for them, they go and betray you for a pot of porridge. Saturday is our day,” Amaechi said.
Speaking further, the minister said: “Why not allow people to vote, since you say you an Ikwerre man? Magnus fell ill when we picked Dakuku over him. To address Magnus Abe, as a betrayer, this was somebody that followed me all the days in his life.
“I made Minority Leader of the House. From there I made him Commissioner for Information, got him to SSG, got him to Senate.
“Tell me, who is the betrayer? I said 80% of Rivers politicians who have held positions in recent times, passed through me. Magnus is among them. Magnus makes me laugh on his desperation.
“I was in a meeting with Magnus and Wike when they asked me if Dr. Odili stops us from being governor, what will happen? I said I give up. Wike said no, we will die, we have the support. I said no, that would be betrayal of goodwill.
“If you come forward and say Amaechi you won’t run, I won’t run, but Magnus is desperate. Magnus fell ill when we chose Dakuku Peterside. Ask him if he didn’t.
“When I wasn’t chosen, I never fell ill. I went to Dr. Odili to say I want to leave the country. He said I should leave and I left very hale and hearty.
“I came back a strong man, but Magnus fell ill the day we said, you are not the candidate, but Peterside. If Magnus says he’s not a betrayer, take the case of NDDC.
“He came to me, sobbing that Ogoni people have not had any position in NDDC. I said Magnus, Okay, we give you the nomination from Rivers. As soon as he got it, he grew convoy, declaring he wants to run for Governor.
“So, who is a betrayer. I want to sleep knowing I am an honest man. If Magnus is not ashamed of himself, let me be ashamed on his behalf. My son will worry if they hear their father is slippery.”
To the senator representing Rivers South-East senatorial district, who is leading a faction of the APC in the state, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, he called on Amaechi to swallow his pride and take responsibility for his actions that has plunged the APC in the state in the present logjam.
Abe, in a statement made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt, He said that rather than face the reality on the ground, the minister is busy staging needless battles against everybody he suspects, including the INEC Chairman.
Describing Amaechi’s comments against him as very insulting, childish and an attempt to deviate from the crux of the matter, the Senator said neither INEC nor Wike is responsible for the pitiable situation the party in the state has found itself.
He said, “It is unfortunate that the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, rather than acknowledge his actions which has dragged the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State to the edge.
“He has continued to stage an unnecessary personal battle against everybody and he has simply refused to look in the mirror and acknowledge that it is his own actions as a leader that has dragged the party to where it is.
“It is not the INEC Chairman, not Nyesom Wike, it is not myself but the actions of the APC leader in Rivers, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi that has dragged the party to where it is.”
Abe further said that party supremacy in the modern world, it is about the supremacy of the constitution and rules of the party, not the supremacy of the leader, wondering why the Minister is going around calling names instead of looking inwards.
The senator explained that when the party had its congresses, members of the party paid for forms, but the Minister decreed that they were no longer members of the party and should not be allowed to take part in the congresses.
He said: “He (Amaechi) gave that order, the aggrieved party members rushed to the Courts, the people brought guns to the courts and violently tried to stop the courts from adjudicating in the matter.
“That attack on the courts is the foundation of his problem with the judiciary. It has nothing to do with me, Wike or the INEC Chairman. As a leader he could have made some compromises to resolve the matter, the choice to fight to finish was that of Rotimi Amaechi.
“Ameachi’s comment today on the radio was very childish, what he should be talking about by this time as a politician is the way forward. How do we come together to deliver the President, because everybody’s votes including the aggrieved people are necessary for the President Buhari.
“So, we called this meeting to encourage all members of this party to come out enmass to support the president. The resources of the party are with him, it is his responsibility as the leader of the party in the state and the DG of the campaign. He should do whatever he needs to do to protect the votes.
“Secondly, I feel insulted when Amaechi says Nyesom Wike is using me. With all due respect to the Governor of Rivers State, he is not in any way my superior. He is my junior at the Barr and in politics.
“I have tried as much as possible for us to keep our dirty linen inside, Amaechi should not open his mouth again and say Wike is using me. He Amaechi could not use me as a Governor, against my principles and my beliefs, so how can Wike in a different party use me.”
To Wike, he advised Amaechi to be political matured enough to accept the consistent decisions of the courts in good faith, eat the humble pie, put his damaged political enclave in order and wait for 2023 elections.
The governor, who stated that Rivers State is peace and ready for the general elections, warned against any negative actions that will upset the peace of the state and disrupt her economic processes which are key to the survival of Nigeria.
He said: “I wish to therefore appeal to the conscience of Rotimi Amaechi, as a brother and fellow compatriot, to stop stoking the drumbeats of violence and allow the prevailing peace to continue in our dear Rivers State.
“At this point, let me remind us that these are strange and tempting times in our political experience that call for utmost vigilance and maturity in our response to the willful provocations from the APC and the security agencies, who are clearly working together on a well choreographed script to destabilize the state and prevent the general elections from holding in the State”.
Wike, who called on Rivers people to remain peaceful remain peaceful and go about with their lawful activities and refrain from returning violence for violence despite the provocation, also appealed to the international community to hold Amaechi and his faction of the APC responsible for any outbreak of violence during the elections.
The governor said: “May I call on the international community, particularly the United Nations, the European Union, ECOWAS as well as the governments of the United States of America, United Kingdom and France to hold Rotimi Amaechi, his cohorts in the factional APC and the compromised security officers responsible for any electoral and or related violence in Rivers State during and after the general elections”.
