The Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole has alleged that his party is being prevented from challenging the outcome of the state governorship election.
Speaking on Monday during an interview with Channels Television, Cole claimed that the violence unleashed on APC members on Monday at the INEC’s Office in the state was a deliberate attempt to waste the party’s time regarding the election petition.
Recalled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Siminialayi Fubara, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the March 18 governorship election. Fubara polled 302,614 votes to defeat Cole who scored 95,274 votes.
However, the APC and its governorship candidate rejected the result of the election.
Speaking on what transpired during the interview, the APC candidate said his party has not received the expected cooperation from INEC as regards the election materials.
“It seems as if there is a calculated plot to prevent us from presenting a reasonable petition,” he said.
“It is either we are being prevented from gaining access to CTC documents that we need to build our case or we are being prevented directly so that we can run out of time.
“Both of them are tied together. First, our lawyers were arrested. All the evidence we are building was taken. We spent Saturday and Sunday trying to retrieve all of these.
“We retrieved them on Sunday. On Monday morning, we spent time trying to get documents. We have not gotten the documents, instead, we were shot at, harassed, stoned, and wounded.
“Another day (Monday) has gone. At what point are we going to have time to prepare for the petition that we must submit?
“We haven’t received the cooperation that we expected from INEC at all. I have no idea why INEC has been silenced. Why did the REC refuse to take my call?”
