REC Cautions Politicians Against Inflammatory Statements
Anxiety has been mounting
in Rivers State as political parties jostle to win 37 national and state
legislative seats today.
The
Guardian Nigeria report continues:
Apart
from the three senatorial districts, the eight federal constituencies in which
elections will hold are Akuku-Toru/Asari Toru; Degema/Bonny; Okrika/Ogu-Bolo;
Etche/Omuma; Ikwere/Emohua; Khana Gokana; Eleme/Tai/Oyigbo and
Opobo/Nkoro/Andoni. The state constituencies where elections will hold are
Eleme, Gokana, Asari-Toru I, Asari-Toru II, Andoni, Khana II, Etche II, Ikwere,
Bonny and Degema.
Meanwhile,
an atmosphere of uncertainty has beclouded the elections, particularly in Tai
Local Government Area where the Independent National
Electoral
Commission (INEC) said it would conduct election in the remaining few wards ,
irrespective of a Federal High Court order that elections should be held in the
entire area.
Over
30,000 security personnel comprising the police, army, navy and other
para-military agencies have been deployed to the entire 23 local councils where
the re-run elections are taking place today.
Eyewitnesses
in Abonnema, Bonny, Buguma and other riverine communities told The Guardian
that the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has deployed gunboats to
these communities to police the waterways and enforce the restriction of
movement order.
Heavy
security has been mounted around INEC offices across the State, even as
the electoral body started the distribution of sensitive electoral materials
yesterday to the Local Government Areas of the State.
Meanwhile,
Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aniedi Ikoiwak, has told The
Guardian that irrespective of the huge deployment of security personnel across the
State, if the key political actors do not adhere to electoral rules, the entire
process might be compromised.
“Everybody
should be bothered about security and inflammatory statement made by leaders of
the state, because when you are talking about security, it is not only whether
you have policemen there, but situations where statements are made to scare
people away, creates security situation because people are now scared to do
what they are supposed to do,” he said.
He
continued: “I cannot say I have security concern in this area and I don’t have
in this area. When we talk about security, it may not only mean having security
men. It may mean the way we take the election. If we take it as a do-or-die
affair, no matter the number of security men you bring, it will still breach
security. I think our mindset towards the election should be one that reflects
peace, mindset that reflect game not fight”.
Ikiowak
explained that about 8,000 to 10,000 ad hoc staff would be deployed across the
state for elections. He stressed that any ad hoc staff found to be a member of
a political party or has sympathy for a political party, will be dropped to
safeguard the integrity of the process.
A
statement from the Government House press unit yesterday said the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in Rivers State has warned that if INEC goes ahead to conduct
election in a few polling units in Tai Local Council instead of the entire
council, then it will become obvious that the electoral commission has a
sinister plan to derail the democratic process in the state.
It
will be recalled that Justice Liman of the Federal High Court in Port
Harcourt had on Tuesday ordered INEC to ensure that the results of Tai
Local Council emanate from the rerun elections in the area.
“It
is hereby ordered that the result of the re-run election in respect of the
National and the State House of Assembly elections, which the 1st Defendant
(INEC) has fixed a date to conduct in Khana, Bonny, Gokana, Andoni, Eleme and
Tai Local Government Areas or any part thereof must emanate from the said
re-run election,” he said.
APC
spokesperson, Mr. Chris Finebone, has warned that any attempt to derail the
electoral process will further dent the image of Rivers State and grossly
impact on her economic fortunes.
Finebone
noted that it was regrettable that Rivers State has been associated with
electoral violence, an image which he stressed is contrary to the true
characteristic of the people known for their civility and high moral decorum.
“People
will see us as violent people, which we are not, if anything goes wrong this
time. Nigerians and the world will see us as a person who cannot exercise
their franchise without violence. If we continue to have violent elections, it
will affect the economy of the State, as most businesses will leave and
government revenue will drop. Anything short of peaceful elections will have
spiralling economic effect that we cannot afford at this time”.
On
his part, Mr. David Iyofor, media aide to the former Rivers State Governor and
Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, said the State cannot afford to
undergo another electoral process that will be characterized by an orgy of
violence.
Iyofor
said because of the consequence of not getting it right would be enormous,
adequate security arrangements have been put in place by the security agencies
to ensure that the elections take place in a peaceful atmosphere devoid of
those circumstances that culminated in the inconclusiveness of the March
19 elections.
The
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has urged local political
actors to play the game by the rule and eschew politics of intolerance,
acrimony and do-or-die.
MOSOP President, Legborsi
Pyagbara, also called on security agencies to play their security roles
responsibly, professionally and without bias as partiality could cause violence
and breach peace, law and order and destroy the credibility and success of the
polls.
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