- Let’s meet in court, says Abe
Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has disclosed that it has gone to the Election Petitions Tribunal to challenge the declaration of Senator Magnus Abe as winner of the just concluded re-run election in the Rivers South East senatorial district.
The state Chairman of the PDP, Felix Obuah, said the declaration of Abe as winner in the rerun election was a grave error as available records show that the military, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) personnel and other security agencies massively rigged the election in the whole of the Rivers South East senatorial district on December 10, 2016 in favour of Abe.
Obuah stated the position of the party in his goodwill message to Ogoni people on the 2017 Great Ogoni Day celebration.
While wishing them a very successful Ogoni Day celebration, Obuah said the right of the people of Rivers South East senatorial district to select the candidate of their choice through the ballot box was sacrosanct and must not be toyed with, stressing that the PDP would never rest until this injustice against the people was addressed and the opportunity to have a candidate of their choice given to them as of right.
Obuah said the party had sufficient evidence to show that what happened in the Rivers South East senatorial district on December 10, 2016 was nothing but a display of military bravado against the PDP and the Ogoni people, orchestrated by the combined forces of Magnus Abe, Barry Mpigi, on one hand, and the men of SARS, police and army on the other hand.
Obuah said he was upbeat that the PDP would have the last laugh at the election petitions tribunal, adding that Abe is only “a Caretaker Senator of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who was smuggled into the Senate with the connivance of INEC, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), army and the Police”, assuring the people that his tenure in the Senate would be short-lived.
He called on the people of Rivers South East senatorial district, especially Senator Olaka Nwogu whose mandate, he claimed, had been stolen to remain calm and hopeful, adding that anything taken through the backdoor would not stand, as Nwogu would surely reclaim his mandate.
The PDP chairman also expressed optimism that Abe’s desperation for power would soon be exposed as evidenced by his recent clandestine activities.
According to the PDP Chairman, Abe has in the past weeks been concocting results in his private residence, just to ensure that they tally with figures manufactured for him by INEC.
Obuah believes that these were some of the measures being taken by Abe in anticipation of his declaration by the INEC being challenged by the PDP.
In his reaction, Abe said he was ready to meet the PDP in court over allegations of election malpractices.
In a press statement issued by his media office titled: ‘PDP Heads to the Tribunal against Abe’s declaration as senator,’ he said election petition tribunals are part of democratic process in Nigeria and that there was nothing new about going to the tribunal.
His media committee said the senator and the APC were set to meet the PDP at the tribunal to defend the sacred mandate given to the senator by the people of Rivers South East.
It said up till now that the PDP is unable to point out electoral irregularities committed by APC in Rivers South East rather they make sweeping statements of how security personnel helped APC to win.
The committee said Abe and the APC have evidence of efforts by PDP to rig the election even though APC won.
The committee advised the PDP and Governor Nyesom Wike to look for where to spend Rivers people’s money and not to waste it at the tribunal as the victory of Abe was truly won at the ballot box.
It stated that because PDP knew that APC truly won, they have been talking about concocting results without bringing their facts bare, which is an attempt to justify their loss, should APC win at the tribunal.
The committee urged the people of Rivers South East to exercise calm in the face of provocative comments of the Chairman of PDP had been making, calling their dearly elected senator names.
