Wike Leads; As INEC Releases Results Of 21 LGAs …Rivers Guber Polls, A Sham -Amaechi …Peterside, Two Others Reject Results

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike is conveniently leading in the governorship election results declared in the state, even as three governorship candidates in the state have rejected the results.
The election results of 21 local government areas declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as at the time of filing this report last night show that the PDP candidate won in 19 local government areas, beating his closest rival, Dr Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to a distant second.
The local governments where Wike won include Omuma, Ahoada West, Ahoada East, Andoni, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Tai, Khana, Gokana, Asari-Toru, Akuku-Toru and Abua/Odual.
The PDP candidate also won in Okrika, Ogu/Bolo, Oyibo, Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt, Ikwerre, Etche and Degema local government areas of the state.
Peterside on the otherhand, won in Opobo/Nkoro and Eleme Local Government Areas.
The results in Bonny and Emohua local government areas were yet to be declared as at the time of filing this report.
Rivers State Governor and Director-General of Buhari Campaign Organization, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has described Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state as a sham.
Amaechi bared his mind while fielding questions from journalists after casting his vote at Ward 8, Unit 14, Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.
He said the elections witnessed thuggery and ballot box snatching in most parts of the state coupled with violence.
The governor said: “I think it is a sham. You noticed what happened in Omagwa, what happened was that somebody called me and said they were being attacked at a particular polling booth, and I went there, the thugs were overwhelming until another group of soldiers came before they ran away.
“Don’t forget that the report was that our people were being attacked, so I came to rescue the people who were being attacked. When we came, you saw the thugs yourselves, so how do you stabilize the system when already the system has been taken over by thugs?”Amaechi queried.
He carpeted the police for failing in their responsibility to the people to provide peaceful atmosphere for the electoral process.
“I think there must have been an arrangement between the police and the PDP for the state to be overrun by thugs and you know, the funniest part is that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) promised us over 2,800 mobile policemen. What you see is just one Deputy Commissioner of Police John Amadi  conniving with the PDP to orchestrate all these violence against APC members and Rivers people.
(Yesterday (Friday), Mr. President (Goodluck Jonathan) withdrew the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Tunde Ogunsaki and ordered him to go back to Calabar just because he arrested a DPO who took out four wards’ result sheets and gave to militants working for PDP”.
Amaechi maintained that widespread thuggery, violence and hijacking of electoral materials marred the electoral process across the state.
“You have been following me around and I am sure you must have seen the kind of thuggery that was on display, you have seen materials being hijacked”, he said as he noted some election officials were ambushed along the way by political thugs.
He blamed the retention of INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Gesila Khan in the state for the election malpractices that rocked the state.
“If INEC had posted the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) away, we wouldn’t have been here. If the Commissioner of Police and the President had allowed the police to function properly, we won’t be here.”
“In the Ogoni area, you have one Area Commander, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, harassing people, arresting APC members. Then you have in the state DCP John Amadi. By 2a.m this morning, he was busy in Nyesom Wike’s father’s house writing results.”
But the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Nyesom Wike dismissed Amaechi’s allegation and described the election as peaceful.
Meanwhile, the governorship candidates of three political parties in Rivers have called for the cancellation of the governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.
The candidates are Dr  Dakuku Peterside of the APC, Charles Harry, APGA and Rev. Minaibim Harry, SDP.
The APGA candidate, Charles Harry, who spoke on behalf of others, called on INEC to cancel the election because it was marred by irregularities.
Harry said thugs allegedly made away with election materials and fired indiscriminately to scare voters, so that they could manipulate the election results, while manual accreditation was used in most areas against INEC directive
‘’ In Buguma, headquarter of Asari-Toru Local Government; there was no accreditation because there were no election materials in place.
‘’ Elsewhere, the disenfranchisement of Rivers people was taken to a level unprecedented  in the history of electioneering in the state.
‘’ There was intimidation, harassment and outright manipulation of the electoral process,’’ he said.
Harry said they were aware that some arrests were made by the police of those allegedly compromising the election.
Mr Dakuku Peterside of the APC, said the election was characterized by widespread violence that made it impossible for the people to come out to vote.
He urged INEC to cancel the election and fix a new date for a re-run.
In her reaction, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Mrs Gesila Khan, said elections were successfully held in the state.
She said the commission had cancelled elections in nine wards and ordered for re-run, where it was established that no election took place.
Unlike most other states where the governorship and House of Assembly elections were concluded on Saturday, the Rivers State elections were extended into yesterday (Sunday) by the INEC following series of irregularities in some polling units and cancellation of the elections in few others.
Nine wards were affected by the extension. These include Asari-Toru ward 13, Abua/Odual ward 1, Bonny ward 12, Degema wards 11,12 and 13, Emohua ward 4 and Obio/Akpor wards 15 and 16.
There were also reported cases of open snatching of sensitive election materials by hoodlums in some areas leading to cancellation of the elections by the INEC, while in some instances, key election materials were never brought to polling stations.
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Gesila Khan confirmed the election cancellation, but did not specify how many areas were affected.
Saturday’s election in the state recoded violence in some areas. Heavy shooting was reported in Ozuoba and Rumuolumeni in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, while three persons were feared dead in Buguma in Asari-Toru Local Government Area.
A policeman was also reportedly killed at Borokiri, Port Harcourt while on election duty.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmad Mohammadu who confirmed the killing of the police cop, traced his death to election violence.
‘The policeman killed whose name was not given was one of those deployed to monitor the election on Saturday.
‘We see that there was evidence of violence before he was killed ‘, the police spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the house of the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Joeba West, a police patrol vehicle and INEC’s polling centre in Kalabari National College, Buguma were raised by unknown arsonists.
There were also reports of massive card reader failure in Okrika and Abua/Odual Local Government Area, where electoral officers resorted to the use of incident forms.

Boye Salau,  Ike Wigodo, Taneh Beemene & Kevin Nengia,