…Says INEC should provide date for joint inspection
Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, has been in the eye of the storm since yesterday over inspection of election materials, even as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been at dagger drawn over the issue.
The office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not spared as it seems to be under a siege of some sort since yesterday morning when the brouhaha started.
The ruling party which won the just concluded governorship election is insisting that the APC wouldn’t be allowed to inspect the election materials alone, pointing out that if INEC must make the materials available, all the political parties which participated in that election must be there to do a joint inspection.
Recall that Tonye Cole, the gubernatorial candidate of the APC in Rivers State, in the last general elections said that he was attacked and his life threatened by members of the PDP on Monday at the INEC office in Port Harcourt, where he had gone to collect a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the election results.
While speaking on Arise TV on Tuesday, Dr. Sam Nwanosike, chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, and a member of the PDP, said that the party will continue to occupy the INEC office until Friday, maintaining that if INEC wants to release election material to any political party it must be through a joint inspection.
Nwanosike maintained that his party wants to avoid a situation where a party would go and doctor the results and they want to avoid a repeat of what happened in Imo State where a candidate who came fourth in an election became the governor of the state.
He said, “We are insisting on a joint inspection of election materials. We want to avoid a repeat of what happened in Imo State where the number 4 candidate in an election became number 1, we won’t allow them to doctor the result sheets.”
Narrating how the violence started yesterday, Nwanosike said, “Tonye Cole started the violence. Our people were at the waterside, polo club, and we made our position known to the Rivers people. Cole came in with two trucks of military and police men and was going to run over the PDP woman leader in Rivers State. They shot and injured our members. Some of them are in the hospital now.
“When the woman asked why he wanted to run over her, he slapped her. It was at that point that the people who were there started throwing things at him. The woman is a grandmother and Cole slapped her,” he said.
On the way forward considering the time-sensitive nature of the material needed for use at the tribunal since joint inspection may not be feasible, he said, “Nobody can say it is not feasible. INEC should declare a date for all the parties to come here. Cole doesn’t need to be here. Our candidate is not here. We want to end all these suspicions and shenanigans Let all of us come for joint inspection,” he said.
- FG moves to secure natural resources, as presidential committee meets service chiefs - January 25, 2024
- Kogi govt pays JAMB registration fees for 15,033 public school students - January 24, 2024
- Edo Guber: APC debunks aspirants screening disqualification rumours - January 24, 2024