Rivers State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria
Governors' Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi says the renewed upsurge in
militancy in parts of the state ahead of Saturday's Governorship and state
Houses of Assembly elections is as a result of the quest of Mrs. Patience
Jonathan to control the affairs of the state and further mastermind the rigging
of the elections in favour of PDP.
Amaechi stated this on Thursday at an interactive
session with stakeholders at the Obi Wali International Conference centre, Port
Harcourt to brief them on his administration's readiness for Saturday's
Gubernatorial and State legislative elections.
Amaechi assured the stakeholders of adequate
protection of lives and property following his recent meeting with the security
operatives who have agreed to be fair to all during the polls.
According to him, “what the security operatives and
the state government agreed at the meeting was to design a mechanism on how to
stop the attempt by militants and PDP thugs to snatch and hijack INEC materials
during the Saturday polls. Voters and Party agents should not allow these
hoodlums take over the election. They can't kill all of us. We are aware that
Militants and hired PDP thugs who claim to be loyalists to Mrs. Jonathan are
planning mayhem. But, the Police and the Military have assured the state
government they will deploy more troops to guarantee safety and protection of
lives and property."
"What am assuring you now is security to come out
and vote and to also say to INEC that we need the result sheets at the units
and collation centers. Even if the staffs they employed are all PDP members but
we still need the result sheets. We don't want anybody to force us on whom to vote,
we want our votes to count. Let the wife of the president remain in her house
and not force a candidate on us. The security in our meeting with them assured
us that votes will count and I hope they will keep to that."
"The security operatives requested that I should
address you and assure you that they will not be bias and I hope they will keep
to that. The PDP guber candidate Nyesom Wike can go ahead to abuse us as he
wants, but the fight to ensure a free, fair and credible election is
inevitable. Don't be intimidated by these forces of darkness. The Police and
the Military owe us a duty and responsibility to create a more conducive
atmosphere for our people to exercise their franchise. Your responsibility as
citizens of this state is to come out en-mass and vote”.
“The APC guber candidate Dr. Dakuku Peterside is our
candidate. Rivers People have a choice to vote Dakuku or Wike, but, as for me,
we will all vote for Dakuku Peterside. Nobody has the right or the powers to
force any candidate on Rivers people without allowing the people to make their
choice of leadership. Our votes must count; there will be no bias this time
around. The responsibility of INEC is to provide all the voting materials and
result sheets to collate the votes at the polling units”, Amaechi said.
The State Chief Executive expressed dismay over the
unlawful activities of Militants and hired political thugs by the PDP in the
Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government area and ordered the immediate ban of
motorcyclists popularly called (Okada )in and around the local government until
the Saturday elections are concluded.
“We are all aware of the Unlawful activities of
militants and hired PDP thugs. The killings of APC supporters have become
alarming and the security operatives have assured us of protection of lives and
property ".
"I want to call on all those living in Omoku and
it's environs to come out and vote. Security operatives have put in place crack
teams to track down offenders. The intimidation by the Police and Military during
the last Presidential poll is over and will not repeat again”, Amaechi
explained.
He called on traditional rulers, opinion leaders and
party faithfuls to assist government sensitize their people at the grassroots
on the need for the people to come out en-mass and exercise their franchise.
”I call on traditional rulers, politicians and opinion
leaders to take this singular message to their people to come out en-mass and
vote candidates of their choice. What happened during the March 28 Presidential
Poll will not occur any longer”, Amaechi noted.
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