During a live media chat in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State shared his perspective on the recent face-off between his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
According to him, the current situation is “nothing abnormal.” He stated that the PDP was merely being vigilant to prevent a recurrence of the post-election violence that occurred in the aftermath of the 2015 elections.
The ruling party in the state has been engaged in protests for approximately one week, demanding that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) release electoral materials to the APC for inspection, only if the PDP is also present. Governor Wike responded to the state’s post-election crisis, stating, “What PDP is doing is just to be vigilant.
Vigilant in the sense that during the 2015 [post-election period] precisely, after the elections, after the nomination, we had problems that we never believed, and so we didn’t want a recurrence of that at the tribunal.”
The governor expressed his shock at the fact that the police tendered original results at the tribunal, rather than certified true copies of the original, which INEC had. He noted that the court accepted the police’s original results, which was surprising to the PDP, down to the Court of Appeal. Governor Wike argued that since every party is entitled to the documents that were used in conducting elections, having applied to INEC, the PDP needs to ensure it is receiving what others are.
He stated, “And we now said to INEC, ‘We will know whether what you’re giving to us is what you’re giving to these parties. Note all the parties and sign for it so we’ll know that you’re giving exactly the same you have given to these people.’ But we don’t want what happened last time to reoccur. You can’t have two Michaels at the same time. So, all these things you are hearing that the APC is shouting is because they know that game they played the last time, we will not allow it to happen again.” Governor Wike emphasized the need for Rivers PDP to be “extra vigilant.”
In summary, Governor Wike acknowledged that the current situation in Rivers State is not abnormal and explained that the PDP is simply being vigilant to avoid a recurrence of the post-election violence that occurred in 2015. He also expressed his concerns about the discrepancies in the electoral materials being released by INEC and emphasized the need for all parties to receive the same documents. Finally, he assured the public that the PDP is determined to prevent any manipulation of the election results and will remain vigilant to protect the integrity of the process.
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