The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has declared that the forthcoming legislative rerun elections in the state would be a test of the preparedness of the current Federal Government to allow for the deepening of democracy.
He reiterated  that the Supreme Court upheld his election on the premise of laid down legal principles applied in all the other governorship appeals, saying that no action  was taken to influence the judgment as alleged by the Rivers APC.
The governor, who appeared on a radio phone-in programme in Port Harcourt on Saturday, said that the people of Rivers State would not allow the planned use of security agencies to rig the elections to materialise.
According to him, the desperation to rig the forthcoming rerun elections are part of a plot by the APC to capture Rivers State through fraudulent means as they have arranged  to write results and go ahead  with an impeachment  plan.
He said: “They are so desperate to rig the elections. These elections will be a test for democracy in Nigeria”.
Wike  said  that contrary to claims by the APC, he was not involved in inciting violence as the warning he gave that those who plan to rig the rerun elections will be treated as political armed robbers was in line with similar warnings given by President Muhammadu Buhari before the last general elections.
“If they are coming to do proper elections to let the will of the people  to prevail,  we will  support  them. Why are they worried simply  because  we are fighting  political  armed robbers”, he said.
On the issue of the Supreme Court judgment which validated his election, Wike said that just like in other governorship elections, the court held that the card reader was not superior to the voter register in the accreditation process.
He added that the Supreme Court also held that he was not given fair hearing because the second chairman of the Rivers State Governorship Tribunal passed a judgment in a motion that he did not hear.
He stated that it was unfortunate that the Rivers State APC would misinterpret his vote of thanks and single out Dr Peter Odili for attacks when he listed several PDP leaders who supported him as party men.
Wike said that in the earlier appeal he filed on the issue of territorial jurisdiction with Justice Mary Odili on the panel, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal with the APC celebrating, pointing out that on the panel without Just Mary Odili, his appeal was upheld.
He wondered why the Rivers APC wants the world to believe their falsehood that Justice Mary Odili influenced a panel in which she was not a member, but could not influence the one she sat on.
Commenting on  the military  invasion  of  Ogoni communities which led to the loss of innocent  lives, Wike said that he supports the fight against criminality, but will never support the unjustified killing  of  innocent people.
He said he visited Yeghe and Bori as governor to ascertain the level of damage and loss of lives.
The governor wondered why in the so-called search for one Solomon Ndigbara, the military would massively deploy to Ogoniland to disrupt very peaceful communities.
While blaming Senator Magnus Abe for going about with soldiers to intimidate his constituents, Wike said that it was unfortunate that some politicians invite soldiers to rout their peaceful communities.
He said that the Solomon Ndigbara that Magnus Abe was hunting for was Senator Abe’s associate before they fell out politically.
“Senator Magnus Abe should apologise to the Ogoni people.  I am an Ikwerre man. Have you ever seen me invite the military to our land?”, he said.
He denied making any inciting statement when he attended the birthday of Senator Lee Maeba, saying that all he did was to campaign for the PDP candidate, Senator Olaka Nwogu.
The governor added that he intercepted a communication wherein Senator Abe stated that he can only emerge victorious through the help of soldiers during the rerun elections.
Wike emphasised his declaration that top government functionaries, PDP candidates in the forthcoming rerun elections and PDP leaders should resist arrest from security agents detailed to destabilise the PDP ahead of the rerun elections.
He said  he believes  in the rule of law hence he will not allow anyone to use illegal means to manipulate the election process in the state.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has directed political appointees, leaders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), caretaker committee chairmen, top government functionaries and candidates of the PDP in the forthcoming rerun legislative elections in the state to resist arrest on trump up charges from security agents detailed to destabilise the PDP before the elections.
A statement issued  by Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, noted that Wike is in receipt of security information which revealed  a directive by the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS), to one Abdullahi in the Rivers State Command to summarily and illegally arrest PDP leaders, council chairmen, political appointees and candidates of the PDP for the rerun elections.
The governor specifically directed that the mentioned party leaders, political appointees and PDP candidates should not follow operatives of the DSS and other security agents to their offices under any guise.