Don’t Postpone Rerun Polls In Rivers Again – Banigo

As the December 10, 2016 date for the conduct of the re-run election in the state draws closer, Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to ensure that the date remains sacrosanct.

In a statement at Government House, Port Harcourt, Banigo said that the call has become necessary in view of the callous manner in which INEC has been post-ponding the rerun election in the state.

She said the inability of INEC to conduct the rerun election has denied the constituents their representation at both the state and national assemblies, and emphasized the need for INEC to be more proactive and be alive to its responsibilities in order to debunk insinuations that it is being manipulated.

Banigo who described the recent arrest of a syndicate engaged in the printing of fake INEC result sheets in Port Harcourt as most worrisome and shameful, decried the situation where INEC has been collaborating with the opposition to truncate the democratic process in Rivers State.

She further called on INEC to demonstrate neutrality in the conduct of the December 10, 2016 rerun election in the state to prove skeptics wrong that it has the capacity to deliver a credible, free and fair election in the State.

Banigo urged security agencies that would be involved in the conduct of the Re-run election to ensure that they provide security to guard against election violence being perpetrated by those who do not want the election conducted for fear of losing it and advised the people of the state, especially PDP faithful to be on the alert for anyone planning to pass through the back door.