The Bickering in Rivers State
Since the last governorship election in Rivers State, the APC and PDP have launched into a tirade of abuse against each other. Davidson Iriekpen writes
The governorship elections across the federation have come and gone, and the winners long sworn in, but one state where all that transpired during and after the election have not left the lips of many observers and analysts is Rivers State. Since after the elections, members of the All Progressives Congress in the state have been clamouring for the cancellation of the poll, alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission conspired with security agencies to award victory to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Though the party has long proceeded to the Election Petitions Tribunal to challenge the results released by INEC, its members have continued to complain that the election was a sham. They say they are hopeful of victory at the electoral court.
Recently, the Rivers State chairman of the APC, Dr. Davies Ikanya, advised Governor Nyesom Wike not to embark on any long term project because he has a short time to stay in office. The party said Wike was unjustly declared the winner by INEC, warning him not to change the curtains and furniture in the Government House, because he has “a very short time” to stay in power.
Ikanya stated, “Wike was unjustly declared winner by the state INEC, which never hides its connivance with Rivers PDP. He does not have the legitimate mandate of the good people of the state to act as their governor. We remain confident that the election tribunal will do the needful and sack him accordingly in view of the materials submitted to them, in view of the immorality associated with his occupation of the Government House, and in view of the outcry of the people of the state that he does not have their mandate to serve as their governor.”
He appealed to the people of the state to endure whatever hardship that may come from Wike’s administration, pending the restoration of the mandate Rivers people gave to the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.
“As we wait to reclaim the mandate of the Rivers State people, which was wickedly seized by INEC in their desperation to impose Wike as the governor of Rivers State, we wish to state that we will not allow the blood of our members spilled to be in vain.”
But penultimate week, the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, said the alleged irregularities that took place in Rivers State were “greatly exaggerated.” Jega, who spoke at a programme hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and anchored by Jenniffer Cooke, Director, African Programme at the institute in Washington DC, said the elections in the state was credible and the commission did the right by announcing the winner.
According to Jega, “We created a three-man team to investigate the allegations of electoral malpractice. It was not true that elections didn’t take place in majority of the state; it was not true that result sheets were manipulated. There was no evidence of malpractice or photocopied result sheets, and no substantive evidence to establish alterations.
“Rivers has become quite a big issue, and we did our best to be able to have enough evidence to make an informed decision before results were returned. We received reports of fake results sheets, use of photocopied result sheet, substitution trend of INEC personnel and allegation of no election taking place in some polling units. It came before we announced the results, so we immediately constituted a three-man team made up of national commissioners to go to Rivers State and investigate the allegations. It was not true that elections did not take place in majority part of the state. In fact, the evidence was that in the overwhelming majority election took place in most areas. It wasn’t true that there were fake result sheets, there were no photocopied results sheets, there was no substantive evidence to support the wild allegations.
“From our investigations we were satisfied that there was no substantive evidence to cancel the elections, as agitated by some people. We also have people on ground and observers like TMG, and others who also gave us honest report about what happened.
“I don’t think there was a massive irregularity as reported in Rivers State. My advice is that they should go to the tribunal, if they have evidence. On our own part, we have done our thorough investigation.
“We have scanned 95 per cent of the results sheets from all the polling units and we will put them on our site once we get to 100 per cent. I am not saying there is no irregularities, but not to the magnitude that has been reported.”
Before that, Jega had while responding to questions at the Civil Rights Situation Room in Abuja in April equally said there was no evidence before the commission that there were irregularities in the elections in the state. He stated that the commission on getting the petition of irregularities in the state sent three national commissioners to investigate it. He added that the reports submitted by the team did not show irregularities in the election.
He said, “We have no power to cancel election results once returns have been made. On the petition against election irregularities in Rivers State, the commission sent three national commissioners to the state to investigate it. Some people don’t want elections to hold. They are the ones calling for cancellation. We investigated the allegation of fake result sheets in Rivers. Our reports showed that there was nothing like that.”
With all that Jega has said, some analysts believe APC may have a bad case at the tribunal. They wonder what fresh evidence the party would present when the electoral umpire has already thrown a spanner in the works.
This, of course, has emboldened Wike, who has boasted that if the election was conducted a hundred times, he would still emerge victorious. Last week, the governor said there was no way he would have lost the election because he was very much on ground.
The governor explained that he was teaching those in Amaechi’s camp the way to play the game of politics, because “there is no polling booth in the state that I do not know or do not know anybody. The fact is that I was prepared for that election. I was a council chairman.
There is nowhere in this state that I do not know. There is no ward I do not know one person.
“As I sit down here, I can mention one person from each ward. I know the politicians in this state. I know who has strength and who does not have strength. The truth of the matter is that if you do the election 100 times in this state, I will win.”
In Abuja recently, another dimension was added to disaffection between APC and PDP in Rivers State, when the PDP Governors’ Forum expressed dissatisfaction with the relocation of the Rivers, Taraba and Akwa Ibom states election tribunals to Abuja on the allegation of insecurity in the states. Addressing journalists shortly after its meeting last week, Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, said, “We condemn in very strong terms the relocation of election tribunals in Rivers State, Taraba State and Akwa Ibom State to Abuja.”
APC has, however, condemned PDP’s criticism of the relocation of election petitions tribunals for the three states to Abuja.
The APC National Vice Chairman for South-south, Hilliard Eta, said the condemnation by the PDP governors was in bad faith because the decision taken by the concerned judicial authorities was in the interest of peace and unity of every party in the tribunals and democracy in the country. Eta said, “Although, we are not attorney for the judiciary, but we think that the judiciary considered moving the tribunals in those states to avoid a repeat of the warfare situation that characterised the last general elections in the affected states. We hasten to contend, too, that its decision to move the sitting of tribunals in those states must have been compelled by the utmost need to ensure peace and unity among the various interest groups that constitute our beloved nation. After all, the judiciary acted within the ambits of the law in taking that decision.”
He said the PDP should learn to accept the current reality that governance in the country has changed for the better. The APC national vice-chairman said, “The PDP is yet to appreciate the wind of change that is blowing in the polity.
“We urge that they had better understood that the days when such vices as violence and impunity were employed by the powers that be to compromise normalcy and integrity are history. They must learn to accept the current reality that governance is no longer business as usual.”