There is uneasy calm in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, and its environs as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
resumes the collation of results of the suspended Governorship and House of Assembly elections, today.
INEC Administrative Secretary in Rivers State, Etim Umoh, had at a stakeholders meeting in Port Harcourt at the weekend, said the commission is in possession of collated results of the March 9 election from 17 local government areas in the state.
Umoh listed the local government areas to include; Ahoada-East, Akuku-Toru, Bonny, Obio-Akpor, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni, Opobo/Nkoro, Ogu/Bolo, Ikwerre, Emohua, Okrika, Oyigbo, Eleme, Andoni, Omuma, Tai, Etche and Port Harcourt City.
He said collation of results will take place in six local government areas, including: Abua-Odual, Asari-Toru, Gokana, Ahoada-West, Khana and Degema.
LEADERSHIP observed that there is already a watertight security provided by personnel of the Rivers State Police Command in and around the INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt.
It was also observed that a stretch of the ever-busy Aba Road, from the Waterlines Junction to GRA Junction, Port Harcourt, where INEC headquarters is located, is totally blocked from traffic, forcing motorists to take alternative routes.
It was further observed that anti-bomb vehicles and an armored personnel carrier belonging to the Rivers State Police Command are stationed at the main entrance of the INEC headquarters.
The state commissioner of Police and chairman of the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), Usman Belel, has assured of the provision of adequate security until the conclusion of the whole process.
Belel appealed to stakeholders to maintain decorum as the process lasts, urging all to accept the outcome of the election.
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He said: “As it is usual in every contest, winners and losers must emerge, but the maturity with which the contest’s results is accepted, determines how peaceful the society can be. I wish to appeal to all stakeholders to give peace a chance and be magnanimous, either in victory or in defeat, as there will still be Rivers State beyond these elections.
“It is my humble appeal that contestants and parties’ faithful should prevail on their supporters to do away with thuggery and violence. The Rivers State Police Command is determined to provide security for all residents and stakeholders in Rivers State for them to exercise their fundamental rights.”
The governorship candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the state, Biokpomabo Awara, has said he has no confidence in the ability of INEC to do anything transparent, alleging that the results that would be collated were already doctored.
Awara said: “I doubt the reliability of the doctored result sheets and other electoral materials with INEC in the last three weeks. We have record of some of the results being mutilated, particularly that of Akuku-Toru LGA.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in Rivers State has refused to give reasons for changing the four compromised electoral officers of the commission, who lack integrity for being card-carrying members of PDP. “If the violence made the March 9 elections not to be credible, according to INEC, where did the commission get results for the seventeen LGAs, of Rivers 23 LGAs in the INEC’s possession?
Efforts made by LEADERSHIP to speak with the INEC Public Relations Officer (PRO) in the state, Geraldine Ekelemu proved abortive as she did not return the calls and text messages sent to her mobile line.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and 15 governorship candidates in the suspended Rivers State governorship election have expressed mixed feelings to the outcome of the stakeholders meeting organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of today’s resumption of collation of results.
The APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Chris Finebone, in a statement issued on Port Harcourt yesterday, described INEC’s decision of the governorship election as a charade.
