Those who were
pessimistic about the legislative rerun
elections in Rivers State were proved right on December 10, 2016. In fact, the politicians, especially, the
‘gladiators’, as they
are being referred to currently,
the Independent National
Electoral Commission(INEC), the
security agencies, political thugs, ‘serving’ and ex-militants,
didn’t disappoint the pessimists at all. They were
at their “best”, doing what
they know how to do best,
playing their separate,
disappointing roles to spill
the blood of innocent citizens,
allegedly commit electoral fraud, with
the intention of subverting the will of the people.
Many expressed
worry that a mere rerun of legislative elections could turn the state upside
down. The exercise was for three
senatorial seats, eight
out of 13 House of Representatives and 10 out
of the 32 seats of the House of Assembly, compelled the Nigeria Police to deploy 28, 000 officers, three
helicopters, 28 gunboats, 20
security dogs, 28, 000 security personnel, 26 units of Mobile Police Force and 313 patrol vehicles
to the state . Besides, soldiers,
members of sister agencies like the Nigerian
Immigration, Nigerian Security and
Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC) were
also deployed to the oil-rich
state for the purpose of the rerun elections.
It didn’t just
end there, the Inspector General of
Police, Ibrahim Idris,
relocated to Rivers State, 24 hours to the
voting exercise, while six Commissioners of Police were
also on ground.
On its
part, INEC deployed
10, 294 staff, across the three Senatorial Districts, namely, Rivers West, Rivers East and Rivers South
East. The electoral umpire
disclosed that 14 categories of staffers
were deployed for the rerun elections. A
breakdown further showed that three Retuning Officers were deployed to the
three Senatorial Districts, 18 Returning Officers deployed to the Federal Constituencies, 23
Local Collation Officers, 221
Registration Area Collation(RAC) Officers were
deployed to the state.
There were 57
Collation Officers (for collation only)
at the Registration Area, 231
Supervisory Residing Officers, 1,840 Presiding
Officers, 6,609 Assistant
Presiding Officers 1, 2,and 3, 661 Assistant Presiding Officers, 21
Constituency Supervisors, 24 Local
Government Area Supervisors and 223 Resident Area Supervisors.
These, among
other measures, were aimed at
having a hitch-free,
violence-free, credible, free and fair legislative rerun elections after the failed March 19,
2016 exercise. But that was not to be!
Few minutes
into the voting exercise, it was
realised that nothing had changed. Like spots on leopard’s body, it cannot be washed away by the rains and all the measures put in
place by the INEC and security agencies
could not stop violence, killings, ballot
snatching, among other irregularities
. The politicians and their hired thugs, the security agencies, who were
supposed to be impartial and provided security,
started snatching electoral
materials, while INEC adhoc workers
like, members of the NYSC, were
abducted alongside the voting
materials they were taking to the
Polling Units. Like in the past elections,
sounds of gunshots rent the air,
while there were detonation of dynamites in Registration
Area Centre(RAC) in Abonnema and killing
of one person in Ogoni.
For instance,
a total of eleven
NYSC members were abducted
along with electoral materials,
though, they were
all rescued by
some gallant soldiers. Five NYSC
members were abducted
in Emohua Local Government area alone, alongside
the electoral materials in their possession.
Shooting and
ballot-snatching became the order
of the day
in some communities like, Bodo, the
home town of Secretary to the
State Government, Bidere and Mogho in
Gokana LGA, including snatching of ballot boxes. There
was a report of
ambushing of policemen
at Uju community , near Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local
Government Area (ONELGA) where a
police patrol team was ambushed, and the
10 policemen in the patrol vehicle scampered for safety.
Sadly, when the Mobile Police organised a rescue mission, it was
discovered that a Deputy Superintendent
of Police(DSP), Alkali Mohammed, of Mobile Police Unit 48, had
been beheaded alongside his
orderly. According to a statement
by the military, five policemen
were missing in action.
From Etche Omuma, Asari-Toru/Akuku-Toru,
Bonny/Degema, Ikwerre Emohua and Okrika/Ogo/Bolo Federal Constituencies,
Andoni constituency, Khana, Gokana, Eleme, Opobo/Nkoro, Bodo-Ogoni, it was
all negative reports of either,
killings, ballot-snatching , one form of electoral fraud or the other. In
the camps of the same politicians
were also cries of alleged rigging, intimidation by the security agencies, among others.
The governor, who
had expressed his
displeasure about the
militarization of the state and the role
of some senior police officers in the state, once again alleged that soldiers were also neck-deep in the ballot- snatching.
Addressing thousands
of PDP supporters,
who were on “Victory March” across
the streets of Port Harcourt , which terminated
at the Government House, Port Harcourt, the governor
said he
had no confidence in the army, police and DSS.
“I praise
you for your courage,
in the face of murderous invading
security agencies, who killed, maimed and stole ballot boxes, in their bid to subvert the will of the
people.
“I have
told the security agencies, you come and collect security money from me and
use it against Rivers people
. Enough is enough. They will now be depending on
NDDC for their funding. Let me see where it will take take them to,” he said .
He said the
Minister of Transportation, Chibuike
Rotimi Amaechi would never win election in the
state, and accused the governors of Plateau, Kano, Bauchi and Benue of
attempting to re-colonize the state by
sponsoring violence and rigging
during the December 10 rerun.
Also, on
Thursday, December 15, 2016, chief
Nyesom Wike led
thousands of Peoples
Democratic Party(PDP) supporters
to protest what he called, mass killings
by the police and other security agencies, during
the December 10, 2016 legislative
rerun elections in the state.
The peaceful
protest, which took
off from the
Government House, Port
Harcourt, at about 8am, saw the protesters marching
through the Azikiwe Street and
Bank Road, and terminated
at the Rivers State Police
Command headquarters, on
Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
Among the
protesters were; the
deputy governor, Dr Ipalibo Harry
Banigo, the Speaker of the
State House of Assembly,
Dabo Adams, former Minister of Transport, Dr Abiye Sekibo, former UBA
Chairman, Chief Ferdinand Alabrabra,
former deputy governor to Rotimi Amaechi, Tele Ikuru, chairman,
Rivers State chapter of
PDP, chief Felix Obuah.
But as soon
as the protesters approached
the gate of the Rivers State Police Command headquarters, the policemen
quickly locked the gates
to prevent them from gaining entrance into the Command’s
premises.
Governor Wike
and other leaders
of the party
waited patiently for
close to 30 minutes, before the
Deputy Commissioner of
Police (DCP), Mr. Cyril Okoro
came out and spoke
to them through the locked
gate.
In his
speech, Governor Wike said
they were at
the Police Command to inform
the authorities that they
were tired of the killing of innocent
persons in the state,
by the police
and other security operatives.
He noted that
the people and government of the state
were particularly, dissatisfied
with the recklessness of
two senior policemen, the Assistant Commissioner of Police(ACP) in charge of operations, Steven Hasso
and the Commander, Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS), Mr. Akin
Fakorede, who he accused of
leading the sponsored
onslaught against the people of
Rivers State, and compromising
the security architecture of the state.
He accused
the Police High Command of
refusing to act,
despite the overwhelming evidence
against the duo, especially the video footage that showed Akin Fakorede and other security operatives, trying to snatch results of the Rivers East Senatorial
District.
The
governor described as unfortunate, a
situation where security officials
transformed themselves into politicians in uniform.
In his
response, Mr. Cyril Okoro assured the
governor that the Rivers State Police Command would
pass the message to the Police High Command for
necessary action.
But in
contrast, former deputy Speaker of
House of Representative, Prince Chibudom Nwuche, hailed the
security agencies, “for doing a
good job in securing the state during
the rerun and allowing law abiding citizens to exercise their franchise.”
According to
him, a
true democracy is where the people are
allowed to vote, and their votes
translated into election of their preferred candidates.
On his
part, chairman of PDP, Rivers State chapter, chief Felix Obuah, rejected the results of the
South East senatorial district, which declared
APC candidates, Magnus Abe, Barry Mpigi, Friday Nke-Ee, Innocent Barikor
and others as winners.
In the same
vein, the APC governorship candidate in the state in the April 10, 2015
general elections, Dr Dakuku
Peterside, alleged that a member of the State Executive
Council, was arrested by the police with
pre-filled senatorial results for Emohua
Local Government Area.
But the State
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO),
Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of
Police (DSP), denied knowledge of the arrest.
As at
Thursday, December 15, INEC was yet to conclude the election in Etche local government area due to widespread violence and irregularities.
In the
estimation of many, the truth is that the failure of INEC to conduct
violence-free, free, fair and
credible elections in Rivers State,
could be blamed on the same politicians, who raised the
alarm that the commission did not
want to conclude the elections. Critical
observers argue that the ‘gladiators’ and
the two major political parties,
PDP and APC cannot be exonerated from the ugly development. What happened in December 10 was a
clear case of who
could out-rig the other, and also a question of political
party members that were more violent
than the others. But what is
surprising is that despite the preparations for the exercise, the December 10,2016 legislative
rerun election in Rivers State was still characterised by bloodletting,
ballot- snatching, abduction of INEC staff and other irregularities.
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