LG Boss Alerts On APC’s Plot To Disrupt Poll In Okrika

Barely 48 hours to the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, Chairman of Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, Philemon Kingoli has raised an alarm over alleged plans by a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the area to disrupt Saturday’s election.
Kingoli who disclose this to newsmen said part of the plot is to come up with an unsubstantiated allegations against him in order to pave the way for hoodlums to unleash mayhem in Okrika.
He further alleged that a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the area, David Okumgba had led some security operatives to hijack election materials in Okrika, saying people saw him doing that openly and that he has started again.
Meanwhile, Okumgba had earlier accused Hon. Kingoli (Okrika LG chairman) of threatening members of the APC not to come out for this Saturday’s polls in the area.
But Kingoli described the allegations of the APC chieftain as a cheap blackmail, pointing out that it was the same approach the APC adopted to bring soldiers into the area in the guise of receiving information of hired thugs coming into the area with weapons to cause havoc there.
He stated, “Those are cheap blackmails. Before the Presidential elections they came up with the same patterns claiming that they had information about hired thugs and weapons being sent to Okrika. They use that pattern to bring in the Army which they use to hijack electoral materials in Okrika. Now again they have started with this same pattern.
“In the last election David Okumgba led the troops to hijack those materials. We all saw him. Okrika people are aware of that. He has started again,” he alleged.
The LG chairman claimed that some chieftains of the APC intends to use security agencies to scare away voters from exercising their franchise during the elections.
“Again I ask the public. Do I have to threaten the APC that do not have a state in this particular election? They are not part of the election. Why would I threaten them in an election that I know I will win comfortably?
“I know Okrika is PDP so why should I threaten them to spoil my own elections. I cannot threaten them. But they should come out and vote for the candidate of their choice but not to use the Army as they did in the last elections,” he said.

Dennis Naku