Rivers Sues for fair rerun …Warns INEC Against Fraud, Partisanship

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rise above electoral fraud and political bias, by conducting free, fair and credible re-run elections in Rivers State, on the 10th of December, 2016.

Tam-George made the call during a media briefing in Lagos this weekend.

The commissioner regretted that it took persistent pressure from the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, and an unprecedented directive by the Senate to INEC , before the electoral body decided to fix the December date for the elections in the state.

The commissioner said INEC’s complicit behavior has eroded public confidence in the electoral process, adding that only free and fair polls would be accepted by the people of Rivers State.

“It is shocking beyond belief that an electoral body would wait to be compelled to fulfill its constitutional duty by the Senate of the country”, the commissioner said.

Tam-George advised the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to abandon it’s politics of desperation, and work with the Rivers State Government towards fair and credible elections in December.

The commissioner praised Governor Nyesom Wike for putting service to the people of Rivers State first at all times.

Meanwhile, Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has declared that with the type of fraud that the present Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is involved in, Nigerians should brace up for the theft of mandates in 2019.

Addressing the National Executive Council of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Wike said that INEC has been manipulating the electoral process in Rivers State because it was directed to favour the politician who diverted Rivers State funds and used same to sponsor a particular political party.

He said: “If INEC goes on with this type of electoral fraud, then Nigeria is in trouble in 2019. What type of country are we living in when there is open electoral stealing?

“They want to allocate seats to a man who took our money to sponsor their party. They said they don’t want to embarrass him for giving them our money”.

The governor berated INEC for attempting to smuggle in a concocted result of Tai Local Government Area, which was one of the eight local government areas where elections were suspended by INEC on March 19, 2016.

He said: “It is shocking and embarrassing that several months after INEC suspended elections in eight local government areas, it has come up to concoct fake results for Tai Local Government Area.”

The governor noted that the state will never succumb to the intimidation and blackmail of political authorities who plan to use INEC to impose legislators on the state.

“I don’t believe in violence, but nobody should trample with our rights”, he said.

On the amnesty programme of his administration, Wike said that though the repentant cultists and kidnappers will not be offered cash, they will be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society.

He added that the development programme of his administration would be felt in all the 23 local government areas of the state.

In his remarks, President of the Ijaw National Congress, Alatubo Charles Piriye Harry commended Wike for his developmental strides, assuring him of the support of Ijaws in the discharge of the people’s mandate.

He lauded the governor for the reconstruction of the Bonny Jetty which will serve the marine transport needs of several Ijaw communities.