The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday suspended
elections in six local government areas in the Rivers State re-run elections.
This
came as at least six persons were killed in election violence in three local
government areas.
The
state governor, Nyesom Wike, also chided INEC for shoddy arrangements that led
to late kick-off of voting in most centres, just as the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) alleged the arrest of Secretary to State Government, Kenneth
Kobani, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, Cyril Dum
Wite by soldiers at Kpor and Bori in Gokana and Khana Local Government Areas
respectively.
The
areas where INEC suspended elections are Eleme, Khana, Gokana, Andoni, Bonny
and Tai. Apart from Bonny, the remaining areas are in Rivers South East
Senatorial District where Senators Magnus Abe of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) and Olaka Nwogu of PDP are locked in fierce contest for the senatorial
seat.
Speaking
to journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday in the course of the elections,
Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Aniedi Ikoiwak, said the
commission was forced to suspend elections in the affected areas because
interested parties prevented its officials from distributing election materials
and also because of violence in the areas.
His
words: “Actually, we had deployed, as we told Nigerians, from Thursday and I
did mention it clearly that if by act of commission or omission, we are not
allowed to occupy the Registration Area Centres (RACs), we cannot actually
guarantee that we can deliver 100 per cent.
“Today,
we have had the experience where most of our materials were not even allowed to
move in; some were returned on the way. Even when we tried to deploy to the
RACs in some of the places this morning, certain people with excuses also tried
to prevent us from doing so.
“There
were accusations of not believing in the materials we brought and so on and so
forth. There were issues of violence; there were issues of insecurity of lives.
After all, we let the people know, but at the end of the day, we were still
prevented from moving out. From 12 noon to 1pm, we did not see that it was
necessary for us to continue to press to go to the field.
“Even
some of our people who were able to get to the field, they were turned back
with sporadic shootings. So, it was better for the life of the personnel to be
preserved than trying to conduct the election, even when the environment is not
conducive.”
He
said: “So we need to let everybody be aware that election is suspended in
Andoni, Khana, Gokana, Bonny, Tai and Eleme LGAs. The commission is watching
developments in other local government areas and we will brief the press
accordingly.”
On
the issue of fake election result sheets, Ikoiwak said, “I don’t think there
was anything like fake result sheets; I think I have said that times without
number. You can imagine what you think but what we know in the commission was
that only a result sheet was produced and you cannot say a thing that does not
have a duplicate is fake because fake must be compared with the original. So
what we had was the original; the fake may be in the imagination of those
making such an allegation.”
Casualties
of the elections included four persons killed in Eleme; a PDP agent in Tai,
Tambari Ntoto; and a staff of Nigeria Immigration Service in Abonnema,
Akukutoru Local Government Area of the state.
One
person, Lucky Igweh, was shot by soldiers at Rumuokwuta in Obio/Akpor Local
Government Area of the the state, where Wike hails from.
He was rushed to the hospital by policemen deployed to the area.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad (DSP), however said only one person was killed at Eleme during the elections.
Twitter: @CKNNigeria
Facebook: CKNNigeria
CKN NEWS Hotline: 08080054001
Whatsapp: 08099677755
BBM : 2BE329DF
Website: www.cknnigeria.com
Tags
Politics