Politics
Apc’s Botched Protest, Coup Against Constituted Authority -PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that Monday’s botched protest by some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a coup against a constituted authority capable of causing a breach of the peace.
The State PDP Chairman, Bro. Felix Obuah stated this in a statement issued by his media aide, Jerry Needam yesterday and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
Obuah described the protest as a gathering of war mongers at the behest of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi ahead of the March 9, 2019 Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
The statement reads, “Monday’s protest by the deceived infinitesimal members of a faction of All Progressives Congress, APC, is a coup against a constituted authority aimed at causing breach of the law and order in the State.
“It (the protest) was rather a gathering of war mongers at the instance of the Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi to re-sharpen his arsenals and instruments of war for the March 9th, Governorship and State Assembly elections in the State.
“The purported protest from the beginning to the end was fraught with beating of war drums and issuance of threats of bloodletting similar to the ones preceding the Presidential and National Assembly elections which equally resulted in the killings of innocent Rivers people in the State,” it said.
The State PDP chairman regretted that such threats and incitements were being dished out before security agencies who have turned a blind eye while evil is being perpetuated against the very people they are employed to protest.
He further said that enough means and outlets have been provided in the electoral law to vote for any candidate of one’s choice or against any candidate, pointing out that to incite ‘political thugs’ against a sitting Governor is not only undemocratic, but criminal and evil.
He added, “For some people to allow themselves to continue to be used by a feudal lord that has no regard for the lives of his people nor regret for those he caused their blood to be wasted is to say the least, foolishness and self-dehumanisation”, the State PDP boss declared.
He recalled similar threats and war songs before the Presidential and National Assembly elections by the like of Tonye Princewill, promising to be ‘lawless’ if the APC was excluded from the polls which came to pass, stressing that in like manner, another APC member, one Azubuike Wanjoku has also ‘threatened fire and brimstone during the March 9, Governorship and State Houses of Assembly poll and the security agencies have bluntly refused to nip the imminent mayhem in the bud.’
Obuah reminded the security agencies that their service is to the people and not to a few who have arrogated to themselves the status of an institution, saying service to any other than the mass of Rivers citizens and Nigerians in general is a betrayal of trust and disservice to the citizenry.
Dennis Naku
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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