Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt
The order of a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the result of the last rerun election in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State has set the People Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state against each other.
While the PDP has hailed the order and called on the INEC to obey the order, the APC has called it meaningless and worthless as the commission was not bound to obey it.
The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had ruled on an interlocutory injunction stopping INEC from generating, compiling or announcing any results of rerun election for Tai LGA.
State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, addressing journalists in Port Harcourt on Thursday, said INEC would be violating the rule of law should it go ahead and announce a result of an election that did not hold.
Nwanosike specifically called on INEC Commissioner in charge of Operations, Amina Zakari, not to declare the “concocted ” Tai election results.
His words: “INEC must obey the court order or go to a higher court to vacate the order. If the APC is saying that the order is worthless, that means that the party (APC) is not ready to obey the rule of law.
“A court of competent jurisdiction has given an order and it behoves INEC to obey the order or vacate it (order) at a higher court. Amina Zakari has no reason to declare a concocted result of Tai LGA election. They should stay away from anything that will endanger the will of Tai people.
“No material was distributed in the 10 wards of Tai LGA. Two lives were lost, including a pregnant woman with a baby in her womb.
“The Electoral Officer of the area said that the situation in Tai, where some of the adhoc workers were kidnapped and election materials hijacked did not allow voting to take place. So how the result for Tai come about.”
