…Says PDP denied them access to INEC office
The All Progressives Congress (APC), gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State in the just concluded general elections, Tonye Cole lamented over attacks by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Port Harcourt Rivers State.
Cole stated that the members of the ruling party in Rivers State threw stones and other weapons at him as he tried to access the office of INEC in Port Harcourt on Monday to collect the Certified True Copies (CTC) of election results.
While narrating the story of what actually transpired in the INEC office, he said, “We didn’t want to go to the INEC office with a crowd, so the party chairman, the youth leader, the woman leader, and I went to collect the CTC documents. When we got there the PDP thugs had already barricaded the roundabout, so we couldn’t access the office.
“They (thugs) told me that they were going to embarrass me and wouldn’t allow me access to the office. The next thing I heard, somebody slapped me at the back of my head, and another person was holding my shirt. They threw stones at us, destroyed our vehicles, and a missile hit me on my shoulder.
“The Department of State Services (DSS) and other security officers asked me to leave because I insisted that I was not going to leave, that they should kill me if that was what democracy was about. My security details restricted me and took me away from there.
Speaking bitterly about the role the police played, he said, “Recall that a few days ago lawyers that were working on our brief were arrested by men of the Surveillance and Intelligence unit of the Nigeria police force. So, when we got back to the party secretariat from the INEC office, the same police officers that arrested our lawyers were the ones giving cover to the PDP thugs that left INEC office and followed us to our secretariat.
“They got there and began to shoot sporadically, insisting that they were going to kill me. I was told that they were there to demand for their CTC, it was laughable. If they were there for that purpose they should have just gone and picked theirs as we demand for ours.
He added, “I don’t know who gave PDP the permission to barricade the INEC office. They attacked me physically to prevent me from getting the CTC and by Friday we would be out of time. If I don’t get the CTC by Friday we wouldn’t be able to petition.
“What is PDP afraid of? If the police gave the PDP the permission to mount the barricade at INEC office and are violent about it, the police should go and clear them, because I intend to go back to INEC office and collect my document today.
Speaking on his next line of action, he said, “In the event that I am not able to access the Port Harcourt INEC office, I will go to INEC headquarters, Abuja to see the chairman.
“I tried to see the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and all their phones were switched off. Since INEC Rivers State has decided that for whatever reason, it would not release the document, then I will go to the INEC national office, and if it decides to prevent us from access to the CTC, then they would explain to Nigerians what they are actually afraid of.
“If PDP claims that it won every constituency in Rivers State and it is a very popular party in the state, why prevent us from getting the CTC?,” Cole queried.
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