Rivers rerun: PDP rejects declaration of Magnus Abe, other APC candidates

The Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State says it vehemently rejects the results as announced by the presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission declaring the candidates of the All Progressives Congress – Magnus Abe, Barry Mpigi, Friday Nke-Ee, Innocent Barikor and others – winners of their respective offices in Rivers South East Senatorial District.
A statement by the State Chairman of the party, Bro. Felix Obuah, signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, said the rejection of the results stems from the fact that election never took place in the whole of the Rivers South East District.
The PDP challenged the APC, INEC, Army, Police and other security agencies to show proof that there was election in the zone, adding that whoever lays claim to results in the area or claims that election took place is a criminal.
Obuah explained that what happened on December 10, 2016 was nothing short of war declared on the people of the Rivers South East by Abe, Mpigi, the Army, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Policemen and APC thugs dressed in Army uniform.
The State PDP Chairman further added that what happened during the Saturday rerun was like scenes from a classical movie where military might was brazenly deployed to over-run a hapless and defenseless people.
The PDP said the situation became most unfortunate when it recalled the series of outcry raised by the party on Saturday on the unwholesome activities of some chieftains of the APC in Ogoni, including Derrick Mene, the Executive Director Finance/Administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission, who allegedly connived with the INEC, military, SARS and APC thugs to hijack the process, regretting that these outcries fell on deaf ears as the same INEC, Police and Military, who were expected to arrest the situation, turned a blind eye.
Painfully retrospecting on the events of last Saturday, Obuah said the PDP had raised the alarm over the invasion of some communities in Tai Local Government Area of the State by the combined forces of the army, police and scores of identifiable thugs imported by the APC.
He lamented the arrest of over 200 innocent citizens while scores were shot at and one killed by the army, allegedly sponsored by Mpigi, the candidate of the APC for Tai/Eleme/Oyigbo Federal Constituency.
Obuah also recalled that in Barako, Gokana LGA, the army invaded the community allegedly on the orders of Abe, the senatorial candidate of the APC for Rivers South East, and whisked away scores of persons, including Chief Awindi Dughor, a chieftain of the PDP, to an unknown destination.
Another disturbing case, according to the PDP, was that of Mene, who, with the connivance of security agencies stationed along the road at School to Land axis of Wiiyaakara in Khana Local Government Area, hijacked materials meant for Wards 8, 9, 18 and others.
Obuah said Mene took the hijacked materials to his hotel at Wiiyaakara, where they thump-printed and wrote results and that he called on the Inspector-General of Police and the army authorities to move in immediately and recover those materials.
The PDP also recalled that the private residence of Abe was used as the Collation Center for collating of Gokana results.
The PDP Chairman stated that the party, having reviewed the entire exercise last Saturday, came to the conclusion that there was no election in Khana LGA, calling on INEC to cancel the rerun elections in the LGA as it has been marred by irregularities and orchestrated violence by the APC against members of the PDP.
The PDP drew the attention of INEC, APC and its collaborators, namely Army, SARS and Police, which it said mortgaged its conscience to declare Abe, Mpigi and the other APC candidates in Rivers South East winner, to the consequences of going to equity with unclean hands.
“If Magnus Abe knows God, he cannot lay claim to stolen results. Thieves are not Christians, unless he is telling us that he is a thief. It’s very ungodly to steal. Magnus Abe and his cohorts have robed the people,” Obuah declared.