Jonathan’s wife wants INEC to rig Rivers’ poll –Amaechi

AHEAD of the governorship and
state Houses of Assembly elections,
the Rivers State Governor, Mr.
Rotimi Amaechi, has accused the
wife of the President, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan, of pressurising the
Independent National Electoral
Commission and security agencies
to rig the governorship election in
the state.
Amaechi, who observed that
President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife
was in Okrika, her hometown, for
the governorship election, hoped
that there would not be a repeat of
alleged electoral malpractices that
happened on March 28 in the state.
The governor, who spoke during a
stakeholders’ meeting on Thursday
in Port Harcourt, said the Resident
Electoral Commissioner in the state,
Mrs. Gesila Khan, already had a
mindset of delivering the state to
the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said the governorship candidate
of the PDP, Chief Nyesom Wike,
must answer for the killings in
Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local
Government Area.
Amaechi insisted that INEC must
make available original result
sheets at all polling units and
called on the people of the state
not to allow the election to hold
without result sheets.
“The reason for this meeting is to
let you know that what happened
on the 28th of March, 2015 may or
may not repeat itself. Few days ago,
I said it would not repeat itself. But
as at this morning, there are
enormous pressures on the
security operatives by the wife of
the President.
“There is also enormous pressure
on INEC by the wife of the
President. I hope that they will not
repeat the hijacking of results that
we witnessed on March 28. In most
of the local government areas, if
not all, there were no result sheets.
This time around, I hope they will
bring the result sheets to the
different units. I hope they will not
forget the result sheets at the
collation centre.
“For me as the governor of Rivers
State, what is material to me is that
we want to see the result sheets.
We want to ensure that as we vote,
our votes will count. Most of you
have been asking this question;
who will take over from me? I told
you that we don’t want anybody to
force a candidate on us.
“We don’t want people to be made
governor because they want to
share our resources. That is not
what we want. We want to be
allowed to vote and let our votes
be counted. Let the wife of the
President stay in her house. She
should not force a candidate on us.
“They should tell her that security
agencies have assured us that they
will allow votes to count. I assure
you that the security agencies will
not be biased and I hope that the
security agencies will keep to that.
I hope that the woman posted here
as the Resident Electoral
Commission would know that her
responsibility is not to allow
anybody to see the result sheets,”
Amaechi said.
Calling on the electorates not to
allow anybody to intimidate them,
Amaechi explained that
communities should use the Ubima
(his community) formula by locking
down their villages to ensure that
nobody would steal their votes.
He warned that INEC should not
endanger the lives of its members
of staff by deliberately withholding
the results sheets or failing to do
what was expected of them
according to the law.
Amaechi urged communities not to
allow any INEC official to leave until
the right actions were taken in
order to ensure a free and fair
election.
“Anywhere there is no result
sheets, don’t allow the election to
hold. Basically, I don’t mind the fact
that almost all those employed by
INEC in the state; collation officers,
electoral officers, are PDP
members.
“There will be no boycotting, there
will be no refusal to vote. I hope
only the right persons will be there
to do the job and the result sheets
will be available. If not, the Rivers
State Government cannot
determine what happens in the
communities,” he added.
The governor, however, announced
the ban on the use of commercial
motorcycles in areas such as Ogba/
Egbema/Ndoni Local Government
Area, Abua/Odual, Ahoada East and
Ahoada West, described as hot
spots until after the elections.
Cautioning those in the habit of
fomenting trouble in the state to
know that power had changed
hands at the centre, Amaechi
restated that those involved in
politically- motivated killings in the
state would face the law before the
end of his administration.
He disclosed that three persons had
been arrested in connection with
politically- motivated killings in the
state, adding that about 400 All
Progressives Congress members
that were arrested on trumped-up
charges had been released.