Wike: We’ll release videos of military atrocities

Nyesom Wike, Rivers state governor, on Monday said the state government was in possession of documentary evidence of alleged atrocities committed by the military during the legislative rerun election, saying the videos will be released to the public at the appropriate time.

He accused the military of orchestrating violence in Rivers as a ploy to declare a state of emergency on the state.

“We have videos of the atrocities committed by the military across Rivers State.  We shall release them at the appropriate time,” Simeon Nwakaudu, Wike’s spokesman, quoted him as saying.

“There is an attempt to cause violence to declare a state of emergency in Rivers state.”

He added that the statement by the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the federal government was plotting emergency rule in the state should not be disregarded because “there is always an element of truth   to every rumour”.

Wike said the All Progressives Congress (APC) was merely involved in propaganda to create the impression of violence.

He advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the challenges noticed during the March 19 election when fresh polls are conducted in the eight local government areas where elections were cancelled.

He suggested that eight resident electoral commissioners (RECs) should be assigned to the areas in order to have one REC per local government.

The governor said the PDP won elections in the constituencies where results had been declared because Rivers is “purely a PDP state”.

He added that since the 1970s, Rivers had been a one -party state, saying his achievement will make it difficult for the PDP to be defeated in any election.

“While we campaigned, they were not campaigning .With what I have done in a few months, it will be difficult to  defeat PDP  in the state,” he said.

“Now, we have a strong opposition for the first time. It is a healthy development,” he said.