Wike Seeks More International Pressure on FG for Credible Polls

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has called on the
international community to continue to mount pressure on the All
Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government and the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct
credible and peaceful elections across the country, including
Rivers State.

In a statement he personally issued on Saturday night, Wike said
the original plan of the federal government was to isolate Rivers
State and truncate the elections in the state.

He said: “We very much appreciate the international community
and the various country missions, whose spontaneous outrage
truncated their original plan to isolate and prevent Rivers State
from participating in the general election with all the other
States of the country.

“In the circumstance, I wish to call on the international
community and especially our partners in the free democratic world,
including the United States, the European Union, France and the
United Kingdom, not to abandon the people of Nigeria and to
continue to put effective pressure on the federal government to
allow the rescheduled general election to peacefully hold in Rivers
State on the new dates they have fixed”.

Wike said the APC-led federal government pressured INEC to
stagger elections across the country, targeting specific states for
postponement.

“Contrary to the excuses being fed on the public, we heard on
good authority that the chairman of INEC was unduly pressured by
the APC-led federal government to postpone the general
election.

“Sensing correctly that it was going to lose the general
election if held on February 16, 2019, the APC-led federal
government ordered INEC to set in motion the process to stagger the
general elections by withholding elections in Rivers and other
strategic States like Akwa Ibom, Lagos and Kwara States to some
other dates,” he said.

Wike added: “The resistance by the chairman of INEC and the
international observers to that evil directive and the ensuing
confusion effectively clogged INEC’s preparations, especially in
the timely distribution of election materials to local government
areas across the country.

“For instance, here in Rivers State, the APC-led federal
government deliberately refused to allow the election materials
already in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to be
distributed to any of the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) on the
blind excuse that some misguided APC members were demonstrating at
the state’s INEC office.

“It is relevant to mention that there was no rational connection
between the demonstrations by the APC- hired thugs and the
overarching national interest to deploy election materials to the
LGAs in preparation for the Saturday elections”.

Wike stated that despite the arrival of sensitive electoral
materials in the state, certain security agencies frustrated
distribution before the postponement.

He said: “Yet, some security personnel, including serving
military officers were sent into the CBN’s premise by the APC-led
federal government to prevent INEC from distributing the elections
materials to the 23 LGAs of the state.

“Furthermore, even when the elections was yet to take place, the
security agencies, especially the police went about
indiscriminately arresting supporters of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in Khana, Gokana and some other LGAs of the state in
spite of the repeated assurance of neutrality by the Acting
Inspector General of Police”.

While declaring that his administration has performed credibly
across all spheres, he regretted that some unpatriotic Rivers
people are collaborating with anti-democratic forces to thwart the
will of Rivers people.

He said: “In the same vein I wish to appreciate the people of
Rivers State for the pains you’ve had to endure in the rational and
just cause to terminate the APC-led federal government and usher in
a new era of peace, hope and progress for our country.

“I urge you to remain calm and steadfast in your belief that
though the dark night might seem long, the waiting is almost over
as daylight is just by the corner and shall surely manifest in our
State and the nation in a couple of days”.

The governor added: “At this critical point of the struggle no
sacrifice would be too much to demand of every one of us in our
collective quest to liberate our country from the destructive path;
otherwise we may have to live with the unpleasant consequences of
our inability to effect the change that we all need in our country
for another four horrific years”.