The governorship candidates of three political parties in Rivers State have called for the cancellation of the governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.
The candidates are Dr. Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress, Charles Harry of the All Progressives Grand Alliance and Rev. Minaibim Harry of the Social Democratic Party.
Harry, who spoke on behalf of others, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to cancel the election because it was marred by irregularities.
Harry said thugs allegedly made away with election materials and fired indiscriminately to scare voters, so that they could manipulate the election results.
He said: “In Buguma, headquarters of Asari-Toru Local Government, there was no accreditation because there were no election materials in place.
“Elsewhere, the disenfranchisement of Rivers people was taken to a level unprecedented in the history of electioneering in the state.
“There was intimidation, harassment and outright manipulation of the electoral process.”
Harry said they were aware that some arrests were made by the police of those allegedly compromising the election.
Peterside of the APC said the election was characterized by widespread violence that made it impossible for the people to come out to vote.
He urged INEC to cancel the election and fix a new date for a re-run.
In her reaction, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Gesila Khan, said elections were successfully held in the state.
Khan said the commission had cancelled elections in nine wards and ordered for re-run, where it was established that no election took place.
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