Last weekend, Rivers State went to the polls to conduct fresh polls after the courts had nullified those held last year due to malpractices. However, the fresh elections themselves were marred by all sorts of atrocities, including violence, thuggery, ballot box snatching and clashes with security forces.
Governor Wike and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have accused the army of taking sides with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during the elections. He added that videos showing the military's complicity with the APC would be released to the public at the appropriate time.
In addition, the governor said that the violence allegedly orchestrated by the military in the state could be part of a plot by the APC to declare a state of emergency based on heightened propaganda. He pointed out that the statement credited to the PDP's national secretariat that the federal government was planning a state of emergency in the state should not be disregarded.
Governor Wike added: “We have videos of the atrocities committed by the military across Rivers State and shall release them at the appropriate time. There is an attempt to cause violence to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.
“There is always an element of truth to every rumour. The APC is merely involved in propaganda to create the impression of violence.”
Speaking on the further rerun in eight local government areas, Governor Wike said measures should be taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) to address the challenges noticed during the March 19 elections. He added that it was necessary for one resident electoral commissioner to be assigned to each local government area for greater efficiency in the conduct of the polls.
Meanwhile, the special adviser on special projects to the governor, Cyril Dum Wite, has denied reports that he was arrested for been in possession of military weapons and a huge amount of money on Saturday. Mr Wite who is reportedly out on police bail, blamed his ordeal on the state chapter of the APC, stressing that the military men that arrested him were manipulated by one Friday Inkee, the party’s candidate in Khana State Constituency Two.
Report of Mr Wite’s arrest alongside three others in Khana Local Government Area of the state with some cash and a security uniform was all over the news at the weekend. Explaining what transpired, he disclosed that he was arrested by soldiers at the Inec office in Bori where he had gone to lodge a complaint that election materials for his Ward 12 in Lugbara in Khana constituency 1 had been allegedly hijacked.
“I had no uniform and what you saw on the video was three men wearing camouflage. I had no knowledge of them, I don’t know them from Adam and I was seated on the floor when they brought them," Mr Wite added.
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