Election Suspension: Rivers Political Situation Worrisome ― Obi

* Wants international community to act

Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) Peter Obi is concerned with the suspended March 9 elections
in Rivers and five other states.

In a statement yesterday through his media office, Obi appealed
to the international community to show more than a passing interest
in a “contrived stalemate in the elections affecting Rivers and
five other states”.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) suspended
the elections in Rivers and declared the polls inconclusive in
Plateau, Benue, Adamawa, Bauchi and Kano States.

Obi also kicked against the alleged role of the military in the
election, and queried the alleged forceful relocation of collation
centres to a military formation, as well as the refusal of the
military to allow journalists and local and foreign observers
access to the collation process.

He described the involvement of the military in the polls as
needless, saying it has aggravated the tense situation in Rivers
State.

Obi, who described the situation as a grave breach of democratic
norms, wondered why the undue interest in Rivers, “a very well
known PDP stronghold”?

According to him, Rivers State Governor Neysom Wike should be
the last to face this type of harassment given his popularity with
his people.

He called on Nigerians and friends of the country to condemn the
stalemate, saying the situation is clearly unacceptable.

“Any reasonable person should know that Governor Wike is the
last person who should be harassed, knowing what he has put in just
in four years in the delivery of democracy dividends,” Obi
added.