The electoral umpire makes a big
show of hiding their source of sensitive electoral materials especially
their printers, up to flying in the materials from abroad. In every
election in Nigeria, however, the losers always say there were fake
results written in peoples’ homes or hotel room and submitted to
collation officers, all to supplant the will of the people.
This scenario has been most rife in Rivers State, especially since the political crisis that came to the open in 2012. Now, the party that cries the loudest, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is in a kind of mess as its fiercest rival, the Nyesom Wike-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has paraded an APC member and professional printer who has ‘confessed’ to being the master-printer for the wailing party, instead.
As the ‘discovery’ continues to shock Rivers people to their marrows, the conquering governor has pursued the matter like a matador or a boxer who has seen an opening to floor his opponent, releasing the blows from left, right and centre, just looking for that uppercut that would take out the opponent.
The seemingly bloodied APC (Rivers State) says the sting operation launched by the strongest PDP stalwart in the country at the moment was stage-managed to embarrass and implicate APC chieftains. Wike denies the charge.
The sting operation
By Saturday, November 5, 2016, Governor Wike was exchanging banters in faraway Sokoto when his phone rang. An aide in Port Harcourt alerted him that the hour had come; that the ‘rat’ they were watching had arrived to eat the prey. It was learnt that the governor ordered the party boss, Felix Obuah, to act immediately. The result was the storming of a printing house in D-Line area of the Garden City, at No. 12 Isiokpo Street.
The next day, the Government House in Port Harcourt issued details what happened at Isiokpo street, saying plots by the APC to rig the rerun election scheduled for December 10, 2016, had been busted in a sting operation against what they described as fake INEC results sheets printing syndicate.
The statement endorsed by Simeon Nwakauda, the governor’s special assistant on electronic media, said: “The Printing Press, Help-Mate Consult located at 12 Isiokpo Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt, was printing fake result sheets for seven local government areas of the Rivers South-East when the police stormed the facility upon a tip off by a concerned Nigerian”.
The statement went ahead: “Director of Help-Mate Consult, Atonye Peters, a prominent member of the APC from Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, claimed that the printing contract was given to him by Emma Chinda, an APC leader and former Commissioner for Agriculture under Rotimi Amaechi. According to him, the printing press has already completed two sets for two local government areas before the police got win of the illegal act.
He was arrested alongside three of his staff, Richard Koko from Okrika, Nanee Godday from Khana and Tammy Garrick. Items recovered by the police at the printing press include State-of-the-art printing machine and computers. The police also recovered INEC Result Sheets Serial Number Booklets, which the printer used to authenticate the result sheets”.
The APC reacted immediately, saying Wike and the PDP deployed thugs to stage what they call “bursting of a fake result sheets printing syndicate in Port Harcourt” said to be operated by a purported APC chieftain. They wondered why this was coming soon after INEC had obeyed a directive from the senate demanding for the rerun to be concluded.
The party stated that; “No APC person, chieftain or ordinary me
mber was involved in any of the purported actions as alleged by Governor Wike and the PDP assuming without conceding that any such development took place. We make bold to state that, at the time of writing this press release, the Rivers State Police Command has not confirmed any such arrest made by its officers and men as alleged. What the governor and PDP are doing this time around is to use their thugs to stage a drama and arrest some innocent persons and detain them in the Port Harcourt Government House without the knowledge of the Nigeria police”.
Chris Finebone, the party’s publicity secretary, who issued the statement, said: “Sadly, the information we hear is that the present melodrama is being carried out by Governor Wike and the PDP using one (name withheld) of the SOS who is a well-known PDP sympathiser who former Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu used to perpetrate his evil machinations in Rivers State in the past.
“Again, information at our disposal indicates that PDP and Wike’s thugs are going to individual APC members’ homes to plant incriminating materials then turn around to harass and illegally arrest and detain them with the help of their agents in the SOS. The activities of this police officer and his associates will be properly unveiled to the public in due course.
“Indeed, it is worrisome when we see the replay of a well-known script of political mischief by the governor and the PDP in Rivers State any time elections have been scheduled. Recall that as the last election was approaching, Wike and the PDP in Rivers State contrived a story with which they used to arrest and incarcerate an APC chieftain, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree. We believe that the same scenario is playing out again and this time another prominent APC chieftain, Emma Chinda, is being targeted for arrest on trumped up charges purporting a false confessional statement by an alleged suspect.
“The APC would like to unequivocally state that the party has a zero-tolerance for electoral malpractices and does not directly or indirectly engage in any form of electoral malfeasance. We advise Rivers people and indeed Nigerians not to fall for Governor Wike’s antics deliberately contrived to tarnish the image of the APC and its members in Rivers State”.
APC sources said it was the PDP state chairman that really led the operation while Wike was in Sokoto. They said the suspect and seized materials were taken to the Government House instead of the police headquarters. A source said when Wike wanted to stop arrest of a judge, he invited the commissioner of police and succeeded, and wondered why he did not use the same commissioner to effect such a sensitive arrest.
Wike: Outburst of a political general
The next day, Sunday, November 6, 2016, the governor summoned the Port Harcourt press to the seat of power along with those he described as owners of the state.
He poured the entire content: “I hear INEC has fixed the Rivers rerun election on December 10, 2016. I want to show you the strategy of the APC, security agencies, and INEC. We had been working on a tip and allowed it to mature. Now, it has matured. I was in Sokoto on a visit when I was called that the APC was trying to rig the forthcoming rerun. Yesterday (November 5, 2016), we bust into the gang printing sensitive materials at No 12 Isiokpo Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt.
“Recall that on March 19, 2016, INEC suspended elections in eight local council areas of the state citing violence and result sheets issue. We (PDP) have always said INEC colludes with APC, and INEC has been using excuse of insecurity to stop the rerun, but we say Rivers is one of the safest states in the country. Now, the National Assembly (Senate in particular) said INEC must conduct this election, and quickly, INEC said it could.
Now, INEC has colluded with the APC to print results. Units in eight local council areas already printed before we pounced on them. What is strange is that INEC has not yet forwarded the units where elections would hold to the political parties but APC is already printing, showing that APC has been told where exactly the elections would hold.
“We say, INEC has a hidden agenda, and God has exposed them. I made sure that the team videoed the evidence captured because police will destroy it. We know APC will deny it. The printer is an APC member, a cousin to the man I defeated in the governorship election who is now the Director-General (DG) of NIMASA. The police said they are now under pressure to release the suspects; that the arrest would embarrass the APC.”
Wike continued: Rigging? You cannot try that in Rivers State; we are not from Edo, we are not from Ondo. The police commissioner said, well, he is under pressure. I am fully aware that if Mr. President hears this, he will never support it because he is fighting corruption. Let me tell you, PDP will resist any attempt to rig the election. Sometimes, they say we are threatening, if we say, write your will; Do you want us to fold our hands in a situation like this? No wonder why we wrote petitions to Inspector-General of Police and nothing happened. I personally wrote 15 petitions pointing out why somebody should not be posted to Rivers State, but the IG never listens to me. I do not say who they should post here but I tell them who should not be posted here and why.
Listen, APC will never win election here, let me see that INEC person that will rig this election, rig the election and rig your life. If you like, bring American marine. They will say, governor is threatening. INEC can be appointed by the FG but they are appointed to do the right thing. The police wants to destroy the evidence; they are saying they cannot arrest the man implicated in the crime, but we have the capacity to help ourselves if the authorities fail to do what is right. I will be surprised if INEC does not postpone the election because they will use any excuse to postpone it.
“If APC says I and the PDP planted the evidence, I say it is laughable; did I plant the man to be their member, to work for APC as collation agent in Opobo during the governorship elections, did I plant the machines they used in printing? If they are doing this now, what will they do when governorship comes in 2019? They want to defend the money they brought here. Let the police do the right thing, which is to arrest all those implicated.
The volume of evidence is very huge, indeed. We can clearly see where the 2019 elections are headed to; the judiciary is being intimidated, and so, if they rig the elections, they ask you to go to the tribunal. Which tribunal will give judgment when they have been cowed? All we are doing is to expose the agenda of the APC. They cannot win everywhere. Rivers State is not a swing state, it is a PDP state; we are not swinging anywhere. DSS said they had been following up, we too have been following up. We want peace in Rivers State, let them not push us to do what we do not want to do. We are sure President Buhari will not allow this because when they were deducting our allocation for bailout even when we did not collect it, I reported to the President and he frowned at it and stopped it. He will also not allow this one because this is another form of corruption and he is fighting corruption.”
Dakuku: Resign and join the police
Dakuku Peterside, DG of NIMASA, wants Wike to feel free to enlist in the police as recruitment was still going on. He said when the DSS moved to arrest a suspect, Wike moblised other prominent leaders of his party at 1am and they said they were passing by. Now, Wike has investigated and arrested a citizen without reporting the matter to the police. He has become the tip master, the informant, the arresting officer, the interrogator, the prosecutor, even the judge.
His words: “With Governor Nyesom Wike becoming increasingly restless and desperate to investigate, try and jail alleged printers of fake INEC documents all by himself, the Rivers state governor should resign and join the ongoing recruitment of policemen by the Police Service Commission (PSC) where he can put his ‘expertise’ into use. I wonder how the Rivers state governor has suddenly turned to Commissioner of Police, complainant, prosecutor, judge and controller of prisons, who determines how a supposedly criminal matter should be dealt with.
“Wike should be reminded that Rivers people and Nigerians are no fools to be treated to a circus show where a state governor is the complainant, arresting officer and prosecutor and wanting to assume the responsibility of police commissioner. He will do well to resign as governor and join the ongoing recruitment into police force. Enough is enough with the antics of an irresponsible governor. We have never had it so bad in the state.
“Nigerians should remember the antics of the PDP in the build-up to the 2015 general elections, where the APC was accused of cloning PVCs and plotting to hack into INEC database. However, it eventually proved to be baseless.”
According to Dakuku, “Wike is shopping for all manner of pictures over the internet, all in an attempt to rope me into their evil plot and drag my hard-earned reputation into the mud. Never have we had such a deceitful government in the history of the state. As at today, nobody has a copy of the state budget for 2016, not even members of the House of Assembly. Not too long ago, two of his commissioners appeared on a live radio programme and were asked by Rivers people where the state budget is, they admitted not knowing the budget of their respective ministries. Is that not a shame?
“Teachers, pensioners, civil servants, doctors, nurses among others are being owed several months salary, yet the deceitful government continues to claim no worker is being owed. Nobody in Rivers state knows the value of projects awarded by Wike. He just wakes up and awards projects the way he likes. Rivers people are increasingly getting tired of the antics of the governor; he cries the most whenever elections are around the corner, while also threatening the lives of INEC officials, ad hoc staff and security agents.
“The APC will win any free, fair and credible election in the state. The party is well grounded and has the candidates who are widely accepted and responsible. Do not be deterred by the latest antics of the PDP; the will of people will triumph in favour of the APC.
APC pleads with Buhari, Senate to stop Wike’s antics
The APC seems to be uncomfortable and wants President Buhari to act quickly; “We remain worried that Governor Wike, who has a disdain for democratic principles and who has turned our dear state into ‘Rivers of Blood’, has yet to give a guarantee of peace in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the State. Therefore, while restating readiness for the 10th December polls, we wish to appeal to the Senate to go further in its concern for the conduct of the ballot by prevailing on Governor Wike to allow for a bloodless and peaceful exercise as he has already shed enough blood, including that of 200 of our members slaughtered by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its agents in the party’s desperation to assume total political control of our state.”
The party also pleaded with President Buhari for the sake of peace and security of “our dear State to prevail on Governor Wike to allow peace to reign in Rivers State by stopping to intimidate, frame and arrest members of APC on trumped-up charges and turning the Rivers State Government House into a place of arrest of APC members as he is currently doing. “Wike cannot be allowed to continue to act as if he is operating Rivers State as a different country outside another country call Nigeria. This is to avoid setting up the state on fire as there is a limit to the level of lawlessness being exhibited in Rivers State by the PDP government. It is sad that by the recent actions of Governor Wike, he has usurped the functions of both the Inspector General of Police and Director of DSS and sadly nobody wants to call him to order? Why must he create uneasiness in Rivers State whenever there will be an election in Rivers State?
“Wike must stop his desperation in setting up innocent Rivers men and women who are not members of his political party as none of his acts this time around will stop Rivers State people from voting in Senator Abe and other APC candidates during the rerun election.”
ALGON steps in
Samuel Nwanosike, caretaker chairman, Ikwerre Local Council Area and public Relations Officer of ALGON (Association of Local Government Councils of Nigeria), a strong Wike ally, summoned the press at Mayor’s House on William Jumbo Street near Government House the next two days and demanded for action.
His words: “The company that printed the fake INEC result sheets is linked to APC. The culprit, Atonye Peterside, told the police that they were engaged by an APC man, Emmanuel Chinda from Ogbakiri in Emuohua local council area of Rivers State. His confessions show that allegations by justices of the Supreme Court in Minister of Transportation are true. ALGON met to say this matter cannot be swept under the carpet. The police must do justice now because Chinda has no immunity; the Director- General of NIMASA has no immunity either, they must be arrested and tried immediately.
“We agree with INEC which has called for full investigation of the matter and prosecution of those implicated. They want to transfer the matter to Abuja where they intend to kill it. We will follow this matter closely to ensure nothing untoward is done to it. It is a fallacy to say the suspect talked under duress, he has been a printer for the APC years so how did we force him to accept this particular job. He is Dakuku’s cousin, so who would want to frame up such person.
His computer has password and still had more jobs to print, so how did the PDP break his password to plant the materials he was printing. He is a member of Vanguard of Opobo Nation (VON) and has been printing things for the group. We are ready for the election and we have political generals (caretaker chairmen all in this hall). The Governor has taken a letter to Mr President and we trust him to get to the bottom of this matter.”
Wike fires back; raises fresh alarm
Governor Wike raised fresh alarm, saying there have been moves to remove the case to Calabar (Cross River), just to kill the matter. Wike said there were moves to remove the matter out of the reach of the people of the state so that it dies a natural death.
The governor however warned again that the people of the state would resist such attempts with everything in their possession, but admitted that he has not taken the matter to the president; only to the court of public opinion.
Speaking in Government House on Wednesday, November 9, 2016, the governor who is in a running battle with his predecessor said zone 6 in Calabar had asked to take over the case. He said it was clear that the opposition party (APC) may have written a petition to warrant the higher level to come into the matter.
On why it was the Government House that led the operation, the governor said the law permitted any citizen who saw a crime in action to arrest the suspect and hand over to the police. He also denied setting up the suspects, saying he could not have known the unit codes of the voting centres.
He accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of compromise and non-seriousness over the upcoming rerun elections.
Wike said President Muhammadu Buhari has so far ordered that the Ondo and Rivers elections must be allowed be allowed to be free and non-violent to prove to the world that the FG was committed to credible elections in 2019.
The governor therefore, urged the police and INEC to respect the wish of the president and go ahead to arrest those mentioned in the printing saga. To fail to do so would amount to causing chaos against the wish of the FG.
He said: “This matter die; justice must prevail. If nothing happens, we would be forced to take the law into our hands, which we do not want to do.”
He accused the APC of doing the same thing in the past by turning up with results other than the one recorded at the polling centres. He urged the press to speak out on the matter to protect Nigeria’s democracy.
He said: “The police should listen to Mr. President and arrest the big names mentioned by the suspect. Let the world know the outcome of police investigation in this simple matter of arrest of fake results printer.”
He insisted that there was no security problem in Rivers State and that the INEC and APC should not stage any to warrant crisis during the rerun elections.
“AIG coming in is not acceptable. The CP here reports to the same IG. Let the case be handled in Rivers State and swiftly so that the world can know the outcome”.
The APC had since reacted, saying the entire scenario was a stage-managed circus show to frame up key opposition leaders to give the PDP an easy ride in the rerun expected to produce national and state lawmakers.
Conclusion
The people want an immediate investigation of this scandal and daily briefing from the police high command to save the credibility of elections under the Buhari era. For years, it has been suspicion about fake result sheets and this was the aspect that triggered violence. This is seen as a great opportunity to prove if it is real or imagined. Between Wike and the APC, one must be wrong. The guilty party must be thoroughly exposed and punished, this time around. This is the only way to restore sanity in Rivers’ endless but violent elections.
source>>>>
This scenario has been most rife in Rivers State, especially since the political crisis that came to the open in 2012. Now, the party that cries the loudest, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is in a kind of mess as its fiercest rival, the Nyesom Wike-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has paraded an APC member and professional printer who has ‘confessed’ to being the master-printer for the wailing party, instead.
As the ‘discovery’ continues to shock Rivers people to their marrows, the conquering governor has pursued the matter like a matador or a boxer who has seen an opening to floor his opponent, releasing the blows from left, right and centre, just looking for that uppercut that would take out the opponent.
The seemingly bloodied APC (Rivers State) says the sting operation launched by the strongest PDP stalwart in the country at the moment was stage-managed to embarrass and implicate APC chieftains. Wike denies the charge.
The sting operation
By Saturday, November 5, 2016, Governor Wike was exchanging banters in faraway Sokoto when his phone rang. An aide in Port Harcourt alerted him that the hour had come; that the ‘rat’ they were watching had arrived to eat the prey. It was learnt that the governor ordered the party boss, Felix Obuah, to act immediately. The result was the storming of a printing house in D-Line area of the Garden City, at No. 12 Isiokpo Street.
The next day, the Government House in Port Harcourt issued details what happened at Isiokpo street, saying plots by the APC to rig the rerun election scheduled for December 10, 2016, had been busted in a sting operation against what they described as fake INEC results sheets printing syndicate.
The statement endorsed by Simeon Nwakauda, the governor’s special assistant on electronic media, said: “The Printing Press, Help-Mate Consult located at 12 Isiokpo Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt, was printing fake result sheets for seven local government areas of the Rivers South-East when the police stormed the facility upon a tip off by a concerned Nigerian”.
The statement went ahead: “Director of Help-Mate Consult, Atonye Peters, a prominent member of the APC from Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, claimed that the printing contract was given to him by Emma Chinda, an APC leader and former Commissioner for Agriculture under Rotimi Amaechi. According to him, the printing press has already completed two sets for two local government areas before the police got win of the illegal act.
He was arrested alongside three of his staff, Richard Koko from Okrika, Nanee Godday from Khana and Tammy Garrick. Items recovered by the police at the printing press include State-of-the-art printing machine and computers. The police also recovered INEC Result Sheets Serial Number Booklets, which the printer used to authenticate the result sheets”.
The APC reacted immediately, saying Wike and the PDP deployed thugs to stage what they call “bursting of a fake result sheets printing syndicate in Port Harcourt” said to be operated by a purported APC chieftain. They wondered why this was coming soon after INEC had obeyed a directive from the senate demanding for the rerun to be concluded.
The party stated that; “No APC person, chieftain or ordinary me
mber was involved in any of the purported actions as alleged by Governor Wike and the PDP assuming without conceding that any such development took place. We make bold to state that, at the time of writing this press release, the Rivers State Police Command has not confirmed any such arrest made by its officers and men as alleged. What the governor and PDP are doing this time around is to use their thugs to stage a drama and arrest some innocent persons and detain them in the Port Harcourt Government House without the knowledge of the Nigeria police”.
Chris Finebone, the party’s publicity secretary, who issued the statement, said: “Sadly, the information we hear is that the present melodrama is being carried out by Governor Wike and the PDP using one (name withheld) of the SOS who is a well-known PDP sympathiser who former Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu used to perpetrate his evil machinations in Rivers State in the past.
“Again, information at our disposal indicates that PDP and Wike’s thugs are going to individual APC members’ homes to plant incriminating materials then turn around to harass and illegally arrest and detain them with the help of their agents in the SOS. The activities of this police officer and his associates will be properly unveiled to the public in due course.
“Indeed, it is worrisome when we see the replay of a well-known script of political mischief by the governor and the PDP in Rivers State any time elections have been scheduled. Recall that as the last election was approaching, Wike and the PDP in Rivers State contrived a story with which they used to arrest and incarcerate an APC chieftain, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree. We believe that the same scenario is playing out again and this time another prominent APC chieftain, Emma Chinda, is being targeted for arrest on trumped up charges purporting a false confessional statement by an alleged suspect.
“The APC would like to unequivocally state that the party has a zero-tolerance for electoral malpractices and does not directly or indirectly engage in any form of electoral malfeasance. We advise Rivers people and indeed Nigerians not to fall for Governor Wike’s antics deliberately contrived to tarnish the image of the APC and its members in Rivers State”.
APC sources said it was the PDP state chairman that really led the operation while Wike was in Sokoto. They said the suspect and seized materials were taken to the Government House instead of the police headquarters. A source said when Wike wanted to stop arrest of a judge, he invited the commissioner of police and succeeded, and wondered why he did not use the same commissioner to effect such a sensitive arrest.
Wike: Outburst of a political general
The next day, Sunday, November 6, 2016, the governor summoned the Port Harcourt press to the seat of power along with those he described as owners of the state.
He poured the entire content: “I hear INEC has fixed the Rivers rerun election on December 10, 2016. I want to show you the strategy of the APC, security agencies, and INEC. We had been working on a tip and allowed it to mature. Now, it has matured. I was in Sokoto on a visit when I was called that the APC was trying to rig the forthcoming rerun. Yesterday (November 5, 2016), we bust into the gang printing sensitive materials at No 12 Isiokpo Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt.
“Recall that on March 19, 2016, INEC suspended elections in eight local council areas of the state citing violence and result sheets issue. We (PDP) have always said INEC colludes with APC, and INEC has been using excuse of insecurity to stop the rerun, but we say Rivers is one of the safest states in the country. Now, the National Assembly (Senate in particular) said INEC must conduct this election, and quickly, INEC said it could.
Now, INEC has colluded with the APC to print results. Units in eight local council areas already printed before we pounced on them. What is strange is that INEC has not yet forwarded the units where elections would hold to the political parties but APC is already printing, showing that APC has been told where exactly the elections would hold.
“We say, INEC has a hidden agenda, and God has exposed them. I made sure that the team videoed the evidence captured because police will destroy it. We know APC will deny it. The printer is an APC member, a cousin to the man I defeated in the governorship election who is now the Director-General (DG) of NIMASA. The police said they are now under pressure to release the suspects; that the arrest would embarrass the APC.”
Wike continued: Rigging? You cannot try that in Rivers State; we are not from Edo, we are not from Ondo. The police commissioner said, well, he is under pressure. I am fully aware that if Mr. President hears this, he will never support it because he is fighting corruption. Let me tell you, PDP will resist any attempt to rig the election. Sometimes, they say we are threatening, if we say, write your will; Do you want us to fold our hands in a situation like this? No wonder why we wrote petitions to Inspector-General of Police and nothing happened. I personally wrote 15 petitions pointing out why somebody should not be posted to Rivers State, but the IG never listens to me. I do not say who they should post here but I tell them who should not be posted here and why.
Listen, APC will never win election here, let me see that INEC person that will rig this election, rig the election and rig your life. If you like, bring American marine. They will say, governor is threatening. INEC can be appointed by the FG but they are appointed to do the right thing. The police wants to destroy the evidence; they are saying they cannot arrest the man implicated in the crime, but we have the capacity to help ourselves if the authorities fail to do what is right. I will be surprised if INEC does not postpone the election because they will use any excuse to postpone it.
“If APC says I and the PDP planted the evidence, I say it is laughable; did I plant the man to be their member, to work for APC as collation agent in Opobo during the governorship elections, did I plant the machines they used in printing? If they are doing this now, what will they do when governorship comes in 2019? They want to defend the money they brought here. Let the police do the right thing, which is to arrest all those implicated.
The volume of evidence is very huge, indeed. We can clearly see where the 2019 elections are headed to; the judiciary is being intimidated, and so, if they rig the elections, they ask you to go to the tribunal. Which tribunal will give judgment when they have been cowed? All we are doing is to expose the agenda of the APC. They cannot win everywhere. Rivers State is not a swing state, it is a PDP state; we are not swinging anywhere. DSS said they had been following up, we too have been following up. We want peace in Rivers State, let them not push us to do what we do not want to do. We are sure President Buhari will not allow this because when they were deducting our allocation for bailout even when we did not collect it, I reported to the President and he frowned at it and stopped it. He will also not allow this one because this is another form of corruption and he is fighting corruption.”
Dakuku: Resign and join the police
Dakuku Peterside, DG of NIMASA, wants Wike to feel free to enlist in the police as recruitment was still going on. He said when the DSS moved to arrest a suspect, Wike moblised other prominent leaders of his party at 1am and they said they were passing by. Now, Wike has investigated and arrested a citizen without reporting the matter to the police. He has become the tip master, the informant, the arresting officer, the interrogator, the prosecutor, even the judge.
His words: “With Governor Nyesom Wike becoming increasingly restless and desperate to investigate, try and jail alleged printers of fake INEC documents all by himself, the Rivers state governor should resign and join the ongoing recruitment of policemen by the Police Service Commission (PSC) where he can put his ‘expertise’ into use. I wonder how the Rivers state governor has suddenly turned to Commissioner of Police, complainant, prosecutor, judge and controller of prisons, who determines how a supposedly criminal matter should be dealt with.
“Wike should be reminded that Rivers people and Nigerians are no fools to be treated to a circus show where a state governor is the complainant, arresting officer and prosecutor and wanting to assume the responsibility of police commissioner. He will do well to resign as governor and join the ongoing recruitment into police force. Enough is enough with the antics of an irresponsible governor. We have never had it so bad in the state.
“Nigerians should remember the antics of the PDP in the build-up to the 2015 general elections, where the APC was accused of cloning PVCs and plotting to hack into INEC database. However, it eventually proved to be baseless.”
According to Dakuku, “Wike is shopping for all manner of pictures over the internet, all in an attempt to rope me into their evil plot and drag my hard-earned reputation into the mud. Never have we had such a deceitful government in the history of the state. As at today, nobody has a copy of the state budget for 2016, not even members of the House of Assembly. Not too long ago, two of his commissioners appeared on a live radio programme and were asked by Rivers people where the state budget is, they admitted not knowing the budget of their respective ministries. Is that not a shame?
“Teachers, pensioners, civil servants, doctors, nurses among others are being owed several months salary, yet the deceitful government continues to claim no worker is being owed. Nobody in Rivers state knows the value of projects awarded by Wike. He just wakes up and awards projects the way he likes. Rivers people are increasingly getting tired of the antics of the governor; he cries the most whenever elections are around the corner, while also threatening the lives of INEC officials, ad hoc staff and security agents.
“The APC will win any free, fair and credible election in the state. The party is well grounded and has the candidates who are widely accepted and responsible. Do not be deterred by the latest antics of the PDP; the will of people will triumph in favour of the APC.
APC pleads with Buhari, Senate to stop Wike’s antics
The APC seems to be uncomfortable and wants President Buhari to act quickly; “We remain worried that Governor Wike, who has a disdain for democratic principles and who has turned our dear state into ‘Rivers of Blood’, has yet to give a guarantee of peace in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the State. Therefore, while restating readiness for the 10th December polls, we wish to appeal to the Senate to go further in its concern for the conduct of the ballot by prevailing on Governor Wike to allow for a bloodless and peaceful exercise as he has already shed enough blood, including that of 200 of our members slaughtered by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its agents in the party’s desperation to assume total political control of our state.”
The party also pleaded with President Buhari for the sake of peace and security of “our dear State to prevail on Governor Wike to allow peace to reign in Rivers State by stopping to intimidate, frame and arrest members of APC on trumped-up charges and turning the Rivers State Government House into a place of arrest of APC members as he is currently doing. “Wike cannot be allowed to continue to act as if he is operating Rivers State as a different country outside another country call Nigeria. This is to avoid setting up the state on fire as there is a limit to the level of lawlessness being exhibited in Rivers State by the PDP government. It is sad that by the recent actions of Governor Wike, he has usurped the functions of both the Inspector General of Police and Director of DSS and sadly nobody wants to call him to order? Why must he create uneasiness in Rivers State whenever there will be an election in Rivers State?
“Wike must stop his desperation in setting up innocent Rivers men and women who are not members of his political party as none of his acts this time around will stop Rivers State people from voting in Senator Abe and other APC candidates during the rerun election.”
ALGON steps in
Samuel Nwanosike, caretaker chairman, Ikwerre Local Council Area and public Relations Officer of ALGON (Association of Local Government Councils of Nigeria), a strong Wike ally, summoned the press at Mayor’s House on William Jumbo Street near Government House the next two days and demanded for action.
His words: “The company that printed the fake INEC result sheets is linked to APC. The culprit, Atonye Peterside, told the police that they were engaged by an APC man, Emmanuel Chinda from Ogbakiri in Emuohua local council area of Rivers State. His confessions show that allegations by justices of the Supreme Court in Minister of Transportation are true. ALGON met to say this matter cannot be swept under the carpet. The police must do justice now because Chinda has no immunity; the Director- General of NIMASA has no immunity either, they must be arrested and tried immediately.
“We agree with INEC which has called for full investigation of the matter and prosecution of those implicated. They want to transfer the matter to Abuja where they intend to kill it. We will follow this matter closely to ensure nothing untoward is done to it. It is a fallacy to say the suspect talked under duress, he has been a printer for the APC years so how did we force him to accept this particular job. He is Dakuku’s cousin, so who would want to frame up such person.
His computer has password and still had more jobs to print, so how did the PDP break his password to plant the materials he was printing. He is a member of Vanguard of Opobo Nation (VON) and has been printing things for the group. We are ready for the election and we have political generals (caretaker chairmen all in this hall). The Governor has taken a letter to Mr President and we trust him to get to the bottom of this matter.”
Wike fires back; raises fresh alarm
Governor Wike raised fresh alarm, saying there have been moves to remove the case to Calabar (Cross River), just to kill the matter. Wike said there were moves to remove the matter out of the reach of the people of the state so that it dies a natural death.
The governor however warned again that the people of the state would resist such attempts with everything in their possession, but admitted that he has not taken the matter to the president; only to the court of public opinion.
Speaking in Government House on Wednesday, November 9, 2016, the governor who is in a running battle with his predecessor said zone 6 in Calabar had asked to take over the case. He said it was clear that the opposition party (APC) may have written a petition to warrant the higher level to come into the matter.
On why it was the Government House that led the operation, the governor said the law permitted any citizen who saw a crime in action to arrest the suspect and hand over to the police. He also denied setting up the suspects, saying he could not have known the unit codes of the voting centres.
He accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of compromise and non-seriousness over the upcoming rerun elections.
Wike said President Muhammadu Buhari has so far ordered that the Ondo and Rivers elections must be allowed be allowed to be free and non-violent to prove to the world that the FG was committed to credible elections in 2019.
The governor therefore, urged the police and INEC to respect the wish of the president and go ahead to arrest those mentioned in the printing saga. To fail to do so would amount to causing chaos against the wish of the FG.
He said: “This matter die; justice must prevail. If nothing happens, we would be forced to take the law into our hands, which we do not want to do.”
He accused the APC of doing the same thing in the past by turning up with results other than the one recorded at the polling centres. He urged the press to speak out on the matter to protect Nigeria’s democracy.
He said: “The police should listen to Mr. President and arrest the big names mentioned by the suspect. Let the world know the outcome of police investigation in this simple matter of arrest of fake results printer.”
He insisted that there was no security problem in Rivers State and that the INEC and APC should not stage any to warrant crisis during the rerun elections.
“AIG coming in is not acceptable. The CP here reports to the same IG. Let the case be handled in Rivers State and swiftly so that the world can know the outcome”.
The APC had since reacted, saying the entire scenario was a stage-managed circus show to frame up key opposition leaders to give the PDP an easy ride in the rerun expected to produce national and state lawmakers.
Conclusion
The people want an immediate investigation of this scandal and daily briefing from the police high command to save the credibility of elections under the Buhari era. For years, it has been suspicion about fake result sheets and this was the aspect that triggered violence. This is seen as a great opportunity to prove if it is real or imagined. Between Wike and the APC, one must be wrong. The guilty party must be thoroughly exposed and punished, this time around. This is the only way to restore sanity in Rivers’ endless but violent elections.
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