The governorship election in Rivers state has been
described as a war front with the way and manner gun men aided by some police
men had a free reign of terror in the state. Though the local and international
observers as well as international community like the US and European Union
have all condemned the 'shambolic' election in the state, recent findings by
The Beam reveal that despite the fact the elections into the governorship and state
Assembly were held on Saturday, April 11, the decision over who would win was
taken the previous night at the residence of the wife of the President,
Patience Jonathan, the self-acclaimed 'Mama Peace'.
Inside sources revealed that upon her arrival from
Dubai, after a medical check-up in Dubai, Mrs. Jonathan arrived Port Harcourt
on the Wednesday preceding Saturday, the day slated for the election.
Her mission was not far-fetched as she began high-level
nocturnal meetings with her loyalists and the PDP governorship candidate, Barr.
Nyesom Wike, the controversial winner of the election.
While the militants led by Ateke Tom and Evans Bipi,
her chief domestic aide and lawmaker, held several discussions with her on how
best to defeat the rival APC, she was said to have also met with some of the
security chiefs in the state. Sources said she had summoned a security meeting
of the Army and Police heads at her Port Harcourt residence where she was said
to have ordered them to stay clear the way to enable her candidate and his
supporters perfect their plot of rigging, intimidation and brigandage in the
state.
Mrs. Jonathan had allegedly warned the Brigade
Commander in-charge of Bori Camp as well as the Commandant of the Mopol 19 to
stop the harassment and arrest of armed men who were said to have been arrested
in the wake of the search of Wike's community and the a hotel belonging to the
State Chairman of the PDP, Felix Obuah.
Our source close to the first lady also revealed that
a night prior the elections, Mama Peace was said to have hooked the
Commissioner of Police by his collar and warned him not to stand on her way. As
if that was not enough, she quickly picked up her phone and blackmailed her
husband, the President, shouting that if he did not use his position to call
the security agencies to order, she was ready to die in Port Harcourt. The
First Lady allegedly complained to her husband of the role of the Assistant
Inspector General of Police, Zone 6, Tunde Ogunsakin, who was in Rivers state,
specifically for election matters. According to our source, Mrs. Jonathan
complained bitterly as she cried to her husband for help when Wike informed her
that the police had turned against them.
In a bid to save the wife from shame of having failed
to install her surrogate as the next governor, President Jonathan was said to
have quickly put a call through to the AIG, Tunde Ogunsakin and ordered him to
leave Rivers State that night back to Calabar. The President, who had earlier
pretended to concede defeat, was said to have told Ogunsakin, "If you
don't leave, I will personally deal with you myself before I hand over to
Buhari".
What were the sins of Ogunsakin? He had insisted that
the DPOs in charge of Buguma and Rumuepirikom be transferred for their alleged
involvement in aiding the carting away of sensitive materials for the election.
It was also gathered that due to the public outcry
against the harassment, intimidation, arrest and killing of APC members in the
state before and during the presidential elections, Ogunsakin and other.
Security agencies decided to do the right thing. They raided several criminal
hideouts of armed thugs who had been imported into the state to aid rigging at
the polls.
The state governor, Rotimi Amaechi and the candidate
of the APC, Dakuku Peterside, were already confident of victory on the grounds
that there won't be any more police brutality and meddlesomeness. Amaechi,
after several meetings with the security chiefs had reassured APC members and
their supporters that the election would be free and fair.
But that joy was short-lived, less than twenty-four
hours to the election. Dakuku and other APC candidates apart from the Assembly
candidate in Eleme had actually lost the elections to the PDP the night before.
As the security agencies made a U- turn, it was an easy ride to victory for
Wike and the PDP.
The electoral materials including the much-celebrated
Card Readers were snatched away by gun wielding thugs who openly displayed
their support for the PDP.
The refusal of the nation's number one woman to
perform her civic responsibility at Otuoke where she had registered with her
husband, gives credibility to the reports that her mission to Rivers state was
practically to arm-twist all those who may stand on the way of Wike.
From the Army to the Police, to the militants and the
INEC officials particularly, Mrs. Gezila Khan, her husband's relative, she
ensured that she used her last days in office to suppress them to do her will
against the will of majority of Rivers people.
With the Tribunals set, and with a President who has
placed War Against Corruption as his government's top priority, will the
victory of the PDP in the state be sustained or is the judiciary likely to be
compromised? Rivers people and Nigerians may yet witness another landmark
decision after a three months stay in office by the controversial
Governor-elect, Nyesom Wike, as it was in the days of Celestine Omehia.
But his supporters say he knows his ways around the
courts and so he will triumph against Dakuku.
The big issue here becomes, whether Amaechi, a key
member of the Buhari-led government will fold his hands and watch his once
hatchet man draw the dagger again into his political liver?
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