Why We Embraced Peace – Wike …Decries Ploy To Short-Change Rivers In NASS …Reverse Self, IPAC Tells INEC

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has explained that the need to ensure peace and violence-free elections was behind his agreement to attend and sign a peace pact with erstwhile Governor Chibuike Amaechi on Tuesday in Abuja.
The governor told a huge crowd of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faithful at Degema Town, in Degema Local Government Area on Wednesday during the Rivers West Senatorial re-run rally, that the meeting was convened by the Director, Department of State Security Services and Inspector-General of Police, promising to implement and abide by the agreement.
“The state government will sincerely implement the resolutions of the peace meeting brokered by the police and the Department of State Security Services for the peaceful conduct of rerun elections in the state,” he assured.
Wike emphasised that his commitment to peace and the need to make sacrifices for the development of the state was paramount, stressing that government will provide logistics to both Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies for the peaceful and smooth conduct of the elections.
He said: “I was at the peace meeting because we love peace and want the state to move forward. I signed an undertaking on your behalf that we are prepared for INEC to conduct credible, free and fair elections.
“It is not in our position to generate crisis because we are the ones losing”, Wike further explained, adding that those who want the state to burn will be disappointed.
Wike expressed sadness that some politicians were celebrating that the elections were postponed, saying that his commitment to ensure that Rivers State have representatives at the National Assembly was because the people of the state have been shut out on the deliberations on the 2016 budget and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), among other important legislations.
He called on members of PDP to remain vigilant and continue to woo new members, while waiting for a fresh date for the rerun elections.
According to Wike, “Nigerians know, the world knows that Rivers State is PDP.  So shall it be forever.”
He pledged to ensure that development gets to all local government areas of the state, stressing that with the successes achieved in just one year, the remaining three years will witness more development.
Earlier, Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo had said that the massive turnout of the people was an indication that the people will always vote PDP candidates.
The Rivers West Senatorial District PDP candidate, Senator Osinakachukwu Ideozu, said that the reason given by INEC for the postponement of the rerun elections was not tenable as the state was peaceful.
Also speaking, the former Acting National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, decried the frequency of inconclusive elections under the leadership of the APC.
It would be recalled that on Tuesday, INEC postponed the scheduled July 30th, 2016 rerun elections following the request by the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC).
Despite the postponement, thousands of PDP members still attended the rally in Degema.
The Tide investigation shows that the former Governor, Chibuike Amaechi and APC gubernatorial candidate in the state, Dr Dakuku Peterside led other APC leaders in the state to meet with Governor Nyesom Wike at the DSS headquarters in Abuja, at the instance of the DSS Director General and the IGP.
A statement made available by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Donald Awunah, said: “In order to guarantee a violence-free and credible re-run into the Senatorial/House of Representatives elections in Rivers State, a crucial meeting to chart the path to peace in Rivers State before, during and after the re-run elections was held between the Inspector-General of Police, Ag.IGP Ibrahim K. Idris and the Director-General of Department of State Services, Musa Daura.
The statement added that the two major players in the politics of Rivers State, Amaechi and Wike were in attendance.
The meeting, according to the statement, deliberated on the need to have peaceful, free and fair elections devoid of violence, which was the hallmark of the previous elections in the state.
It added that both Wike and Amaechi had resolved to be irrevocably committed to lasting peace and vouched to play the game by the rules in the forthcoming re-run elections in the state.
They also agreed to prevail on their teaming supporters to adhere strictly to their commitments to peace and security of the state, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Irked by the suspension of the July 30 re-run elections in Rivers State, the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC) says the postponement is unacceptable, and urged the electoral umpire to do the needful by going on with the planned re-run elections in the state.
Rivers IPAC, in a press briefing in Port Harcourt, Wednesday, said unequivocally that the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) should reverse itself and go ahead to conduct the elections it had so much promised and announced its readiness to do so.
At the press briefing, the Chairman of Rivers IPAC, Bro Felix Obuah, flanked by Chairmen of 28 other political parties in the State, accused the INEC of arbitrarily suspending the re-run elections without consulting the concerned political parties and intimating them on why the elections should not go on as planned.
Obuah, who is the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic  Party in the State, noted that the undue suspension of the re-run elections “clearly shows that Nigeria’s democracy is on trial by the electoral body that ought to be an unbiased umpire”.
He remarked that Rivers State has been relatively peaceful with the residents carrying on with their businesses across the state lawfully as compared to other States where elections and re-run elections have been conducted by INEC.
While maintaining that security concerns are not peculiar to Rivers State but a national and universal phenomenon, the Rivers IPAC boss stated that “to anchor on or hide under security concerns to postpone elections Long prepared for, for almost a year now is to say the least a blatant lie and deception”.
Accordingly, Rivers IPAC condemns INEC’s unilateral suspension of the July 30 re-run elections in the State, adding that 30 out of 31 political parties are ready and most prepared for the elections having worked hard to prove to the people that they remain the best choice to pilot the affairs of the state.

Sam Ovu-Eleonu/Kevin Nengia/Josephine Atagana