Rivers rerun: Abe asks INEC to release Tai result

Magnus Abe, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 19 legislative rerun elections in Rivers state, has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release the result of Tai local government area (LGA).

Claiming that his party won election in the LGA, Abe said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been doing everything within its powers to stop the electoral body from announcing the result.

He also alleged that the ruling party in Rivers had resorted to attacking Amina Zakari, a federal commissioner of INEC, for failing to carry out its wish.

He was speaking on Thursday at a press conference in Abuja.

“That the exercise is marred with controversies and violence is no longer news. But what is news is what is happening after the exercise, since after the elections ended on March 19, some results have been released by INEC but the result for Tai local government has not been released up till now and this is despite the fact that the election in this area was peacefully conducted and INEC has not released the result for reasons very curious and unknown to us,” he said.

“But the reasons are not farfetched, it would appear that it is because of the votes that the APC gathered in Tai for the house of representatives and for the senate, the PDP has gone to town to do all sorts of things in trying to stop INEC from announcing the result.

“We are a bit puzzled about the delay in announcing the result of an election that has been duly returned. We all know that by section 133 of the electoral act, once a result has been returned, INEC becomes functus officio, and have no power over the result and anybody that has any complain may have to approach the tribunal.

“Curiously enough, Wike and the PDP have continued to have their way over and above the laws of this country and activities of INEC

“Before the 19th march election, the list of electoral officers which is a document of INEC was in the hands of Wike brandishing it all about, and threatening personnel of INEC, calling the names of these officials and reading their addresses on national TV. We called the attention of security agencies and nothing was done and these officials became scared, many pulled out, the election was a sham.

“Again the PDP and Wike has launched another attack on one of the federal commissioners of INEC, Hajia Amina Zakari. We don’t know  Amina, but we know Wike and the PDP, and the only reason why they have launched these attacks on her person is that it must be because for some reasons she has refused to be intimidated or refused to submit to any inducement by the PDP to do their bidding and we want to ask if Amina Zakari is the chairman of INEC, why are they not calling the chairman and only isolating Amina Zakari for this kind of attacks?”

He also claimed that Ibrahim Bawa, INEC legal adviser, was on the payroll of Wike, alleged that the PDP bought houses for Bawa.

Abe demanded prosecution of Bawa, accusing him of misleading INEC on the issue of card readers.

“INEC legal adviser Mr Bawa  is on the payroll of Wike and the PDP,” he said.

“They bought houses for him and after I mentioned his name we heard that he has retired. INEC should tell Nigerians why he retired.

“Nigeria invested a lot on the card readers but the briefs of INEC lawyers were against the card readers and its values and importance and it was based on this kind of briefs that the supreme court delivered the judgment that is still causing crisis in Rivers.”

Abe also accused Wike of masterminding the violence that marred the rerun election, describing the judicial commission of inquiry set up by the Rivers state government to probe the violence as a sham.

He said the governor should be held responsible for the death of Samuel Okonta, the corps member that was killed in the election.

“How can a chief culprit, the chief instigator, the chief traducer set up a commission of inquiry?  What is he going to do with the commission of inquiry?” he asked.

“A commission of that nature should start with governor Wike, so, he cannot be the person to set up the commission of inquiry and let me say this for the world to hear, it does not matter who finally pulls the trigger that took down the life of that young corper.

“The person who laid the foundation and the circumstances that led to the death of that young man is the governor of Rivers state and who is he deceiving. What commission of inquiry is he going to set up? Of course everybody knows that it is a sham and we dismiss it and it is unfortunate that there are people who are willing to be used for such activities.

“Any commission of inquiry must start with why political leaders and actors where calling for those who are coming to Rivers state for election to prepare to die. Any commission of inquiry must ask what was to be used in killing these people at the point of voting and who is to decide that the election were to be rigged, because the person who takes that decision at that point is the person who have the power of life and death over those who participated in that election and who did Governor Wike give that power to? So, if you have any commission of inquiry that does not ask these questions and did not answer them truthfully is a sham.

“The problem with this country is that we must get to a point where we must be prepared to tell ourselves the truth and hear the truth until we get there we are wasting our time.”