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Tag: Rivers

  • 19-yr-old gets N.4m bail for allegedly stealing

    A senior magistrate court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital on Monday granted bail to a 19-year-old Miracle Sunday who allegedly stole gutter manhole slabs in the state.

    Sunday, who was arraigned before a senior magistrates court in Port Harcourt, was accused of stealing three of the concrete slabs from the state ministry of works, was granted bail in the sum of N400, 000.

    The incident reportedly took place at UTC junction, Port Harcourt on March 1, 2019.

    Read Also : Mechanic in Court for allegedly sodomising 13-year-old student

    He pleaded not guilty to the one count charge of stealing slammed on him.

    He was also not represented by any lawyer

    The presiding Magistrate, Gomba Osaro granted bail to the sum of N400,000 with one Surety.

    He said Surety must be a civil servant of any grade and must present his national identity card or permanent voters card and his address must be verified by the prosecutor, Godwin Nwinam.

    Osaro adjourned the matter till April 9, for hearing.

  • Rivers: Controversy over poll result collation

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will resume poll results collation in Rivers State on April 2. While the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has received the news with optimism, the African Action Alliance (AAA), which enjoys the backing of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has expressed reservations and raised some puzzles. Group Political EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the politics of collation in the Southsouth state.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is in the eye of the storm in Rivers State. How will the umpire resolve the electoral logjam? Will the outcome of governorship and House of Assembly elections not spark off a new controversy, judging by the handling of the collation by the electoral agency?

    Since 2003, elections have never been peaceful in the oil-rich state. The crisis that has always marred the exercise gave the state the acronyn of ‘Rivers of blood.’ A key element of elections is the declaration of bogus figures at the close of polls. Many eminent Nigerians from the state have agonised over the perception. But, at every periodic election, the state has often built on the legacy of horror.

    Since 2015, Rivers State have become a theatre of electoral battle. Peace seemed to have deserted the state, folowing the split in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the defection of Rotimi Amaechi camp to the defunct  Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which was the bedrock of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the battle of supremacy that followed.Indeed, the 2015 exercise was bloody.

    Ahead of 2019 polls, fears were expressed that history was about to repeat itself. Due to protracted crisis in the APC, the party forfeited its right to field Tonye Cole as governorship candidate. But, it threw its weight behind the African Action Congress (AAC). The battle, as usual, became hot. Elections were held, but crisis erupted during collation. The umpire arbruptly suspended collation, claiming that it had been disrupted. PDP, APC and AAC members were enveloped in anxiety.

    INEC later turned around to claim that it will resume collation of results on April 2 and it will last till April 5. Curiously, the commission’s fact finding committee reported that the polls have been concluded in 21 state constituencies and for governorship, INEC declared that results had been collated in 17 of 23 constituencies. The umpire did not name the constituencies.

    APC Publicity Secretary Chris Finebone said four INEC officials who were alleged to be PDP card-carrying members were declared unfit to resume collation, but the identity of the officials and the affected local governments are kept secret. Besides, he wondered why the collations they had done were acceptable by the commission.

    Finebone also alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike had violated the collation by invading the centre at his native Obio/Akpor Council headquarter, Rumuodaya, Port-Harcourt with security agents. “INEC is up to some mischief, clearly pointing to a clear determination to rig the overall results of the March 9 elections,” he added.

    But, PDP chairman Felix Obuah welcomed the resumed collation with optimism, saying that PDP will win becaue the people voted for the party.

     

    Memory of horror:

    In 2015, PDP was the ruling party at the centre and the APC was in the opposition. The military was heavily involved in the elections, which took place in Ekiti and Rivers. In spite of the huge military involvement, soldiers were not shot dead by armed thugs  because the APC, unlike the then ruling PDP, did not recruit and arm youths with lethal weapons during the elections to shoot at sight anyone who tried to stop them from snatching election materials .

    Also, armed militants allegedly recruited by PDP, openly enjoyed the protection of the police and military. They terrorised and chased away both opponents and voters into hiding , hijack sensitive election materials, wrote ghost votes for themselves and got INEC to declare PDP winner.

    The former Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Gesila Khan and her team were swimming in the pool of controversy. Observers alleged that INEC colluded with the PDP to announce false results with impuMany. Some police officers and EOs are still being investigated, following their roles in the exercis

     

    2019 polls:

    Four years after, there is a reversal of roles. The APC now controls the Federal Government and the PDP is in opposition. The military is involved in Rivers elections, but as a repelling force against the activities of armed thugs, to create an enabling environment for voters to vote.

    No fewer than four military personnel were shot dead. Two are lying in critical conditions. In Abonnema, Khana, Obio Akpor, thugs were on the prowl.

    According to observers, voter turn out increased significantly, compared to 2015 as the military presence provided adequate security and assurance for voters to come out and vote. The recorded votes, though much lower than criminally fabricated results of 2015 reflect the true will of the people. The ghost votes accepted by INEC in 2015, when thugs were used to scare voters away , hijack election materials and generate fabricated results constituted a rape of democracy.

    In many local governments, the military adequately contained the attempts by the thugs to hijack election materials.

    Poll suspension:

    APC has raised some possers. Since INEC’s reason for illegally suspending the elections were widespread violence and disruption of the process in 23 councils, is it possible in such a situation for the same INEC to turn around and claim to mysteriously have in its custody the  results for 17 of 23 LGAs, as announced, following the arrival of the INEC fact finding team?

    How could the electoral process have overcome the purported  massive violence and  disruption to produce over 70 per cent results from the field?  Does it mean that the claim of violence is false or the claim of concluded election in 17 wards is false?

    Why, in at least 15 of the 23 councils, many adhoc staff, especially the Collation and Returning Officers, have been identified as card-carrying members of the PDP, who also ran for primaries, only a few months back on the PDP platform?

    Why did some PDP chieftains publish in their twitter handles the story of concluded elections in 17 LGAs before INEC went public with the incredulous claim?

    Why did Rivers INEC engage allegedly dismissed or suspended staff of the University of Port Harcourt as adhoc staff to manage very sensitive electoral duties in gross violation of the electoral law?

    Why did INEC refuse to mention in any of its statements or reports the grievous incident of a serving governor who is on the ballot storming the collation center for his local government?

    Does INEC Headquarters really believe that the compromised Rivers State INEC officials who stampeded them into suspending  a smooth running election with a false alarm, has the integrity to keep in custody election returns from LGAs for close to two weeks without  tampering or contaminating the results?

    INEC is yet to acknowledge that, by the time the strange suspension order was released, only election results in seven LGAs-Asari-Toru, Akuku-Toru, Ahoada-West, Eleme, Oyigbo, Ikwerre and Phalga-had been announced at the LGA collation centers.

    There were also confirmed reports of election cancellations in Abua/Odual and Tai. More disturbing is the fact that the commission has also refused to release the list of the 17 LGAs, whose results mysteriously found their way in spite of the widespread violence to their secure custody. Is this transparent?

    The idea of a statewide blanket suspension of a smooth election, based on a spurious allegation of widespread violence, undercored a tendency towards fraud.

    During the presidential election of February the 23, despite recording more cases of violence and deaths in isolated areas , the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Effanga, did not suspend the elections.

    However, during the last by-election into the House of Assembly for Port-Harcourt 111 Constituency, the poll was suspended when the APC candidate appeared to be leading. Up to now, the constituency has no representative in the state legislature.

    What is puzzling is that polls were suspended in an election characterised by high voters’ turn out, lack of ballot snatching and lowest cases of casualities.

    All these were due to the adequate deployment of military personnel, who placed their lives on the line in the discharge of their duties.

    Finebone said: “The way out is for the INEC to strive to pass the integrity test, re-conduct elections in affected areas and show greater commitment to the sanctity of the ballot box.”

  • Rivers: INEC to resume collation of election  results 

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed April 13 for supplementary election in  Rivers State.

    Besides, the commission is to resume collation of results of the last governorship and state Assembly elections from April 2 to 5.

    INEC, however, noted that election had been concluded in 21 state constituencies.

    The collation of the results for the election held on March 9 was suspended due to violence.

    The Commission set up a Fact-Finding Committee that visited the state and submitted its report which revealed that while election could not hold in a few areas, they were successfully concluded in others with the declaration of winners in 21 state constituencies. Collation was ongoing at the time of the suspension of the process.

    Announcing the outlined activities and timeline to resolve the electoral logjam in the state, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the commission will on March 30 meet with critical actors in the state after which the headquarters of the commission will release a guideline for the continuation of the process.

    Okoye spoke at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja. He noted that there will also be an inter-agency meeting between the commission and others a day before the stakeholders meeting in Rivers.

    Revalidation of observers, the commission said, will be done simultaneously in Abuja and Rivers State between March 25 and March 31.

    The state chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disagreed over the new timeline given by INEC to conclude elections in the states.

    The APC, through its Publicity Secretary Chris Finebone declared that INEC’s announcement was suspect and received with mixed feelings, since the electoral commission had not shown sufficient good faith.

    PDP Chairman Felix Obuah , in a press statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam stated that members of the party received the INEC’s news with optimism.

    Rivers APC said: “As a major stakeholder in the Rivers State political space, APC received with mixed feelings, INEC’s timeline for concluding the governorship and House of Assembly elections that started on March 9. INEC has not shown sufficient good faith in the way it brought the collation to an abrupt stop (on March 10), without cogent, verifiable and convincing reasons.

    “The supposed umpire (INEC) went ahead to announce that collation for 17 local government areas (out of 23 LGAs in Rivers) had been concluded, as against the records provided by our situation room. And to make matters worse, INEC refused, failed or neglected to name the said 17 LGAs where it claimed collation had been concluded.

    “INEC curiously announced that it had dropped four LGAs’ collation officers confirmed to be PDP card-carrying members, without the umpire clearing the air about the status of the LGAs’ results the four ad hoc personnel supposedly collated.”

    The main opposition APC, which backed the African Action Congress (AAC), since court order did not allow it to present candidates for the elections, also wondered why the four indicted collation officers of INEC would be unfit for the job, while the collations they conducted were acceptable.

    The party said: “Why is INEC jittery to name the 17 local government areas, if not for the simple reason that some underhand dealings might have taken place, for which it is covering up? With the violation of the collation process by Governor Nyesom Wike when he stormed the Obio/Akpor LGA Collation Centre (at the council’s secretariat in Rumuodomaya, Port Harcourt in the night of March 9), where his Chief Security Officer (CSO) and security detail shot an army captain and other soldiers in the process, why does it seem that INEC’s body language is suggesting that Obio/Akpor LGA’s collation has been completed?

    “To the APC, INEC is up to some mischief, clearly pointing to a clear determination to rig the overall results of the March 9 elections in favour of Wike and the PDP. The signs are visible enough to the blind and loud enough to the deaf. All the shenanigans so far exhibited by INEC only go to confirm that fear.”

    PDP chairman said: “Even though we frown at the length of the timeline issued by INEC for the collation, declaration and conclusion of the election process in Rivers State, we received the news with optimism. Rivers State PDP is waiting patiently for the process to be concluded, because the people of Rivers State overwhelmingly voted for our party.

    “We urge Rivers people to remain calm, as the mandate they freely gave to Governor Wike and the PDP on March 9 will be affirmed at the end of the collation process. Victory for the PDP will come at the end of the exercise. Rivers State is PDP. The people massively voted for the PDP, as all the figures indicate.”

    On the letter by Rivers elders to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in Rivers political crisis, to prevent anarchy, Obuah berated the eminent personalities, including a former governor of the state, Chief Rufus Ada-George; and an ex- Culture Minister Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas.

    He described Ada-George, Graham-Douglas and others as self-acclaimed elders and card-carrying members of the APC, who, according to him, were allegedly working for Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, a former Rivers governor.

     

  • Rivers: INEC to resume collation of election results

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed 13th April 2p19 for supplementary election in Rivets state.

    Besides, the commission is to resume collation of results of the last governorship and state Assembly election between April 2nd to 5th.

    INEC However noted that election had been concluded in 21 state constituencies.

    The collation of the results for the election held on March 9 was suspended due to violence allegedly carried out by soldiers and armed thugs.

    Consequently, the Commission set up a Fact-Finding Committee that visited Rivers State and submitted its report which revealed that while election could not hold in a few areas, it was successfully concluded in others with the declaration of winners in 21 state constituencies.

    Collation was ongoing at the time of the suspension of the process.

    Announcing the outlined activities and timeline to resolve the electoral logjam in Rivers State, INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the commission will on 30th March 2019 have a meeting with critical actors in the state after which the headquarters of the commission will release a guideline for the continuation of the process.

    Okoye who disclosed this at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja noted that there will also be an inter-agency meeting between the commission and other relevant agencies a day before the stakeholders meeting in Rivers.

    Revalidation of observers, the commission said, will be done simultaneously in Abuja and Rivers State between March 25 and March 31.

  • Breaking: INEC to resume collation of Rivers results

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) has fixed 13th April 2019 for supplementary election in Rivers state.

    Besides, the commission is to resume collation of results of the last Governorship and State Assembly elections on 2nd to 5th of April.

    Read Also: ‘INEC should withhold Ihedioha’s Certificate of Return’

    INEC however noted election had been concluded in 21 state constituencies.

    The commission is to meet with all critical stakeholders in the state on March 30.

    INEC has also fixed 28th March for the inter-agency (security) meeting.

    Full story coming…

  • Rivers: the smelly sore of a nation

    Rivers lives also matter”, an advert by some prominent Rivers indigenes, should pass for the appeal of the moment: given the Armageddon the 2019 elections have turned in that troubled state.

    The Rivers sons that signed that advert are Atedo N. A. Peterside, George Etomi, Tein George, Emmanuel T. Georgewill, John Azuta Mbata, O.C.J. Okocha, SAN, and Herbert Wigwe.

    The advert touched the core of the Rivers crisis in the arch undemocratic, win-by-all-means-necessary culture, so entrenched in Rivers politics.

    “We are deeply troubled,” the advert lamented, “by the inability of the political leaders in our state to manage their rivalries and differences within acceptable norms of a civilized society as has been done in several other states in Nigeria.”

    The clincher “as has been done in several other states in Nigeria” really underscores the crisis.  While, even within the imperfections of Nigeria’s evolving democracy, the elite in most other states have at least agreed to some facsimile of elections, the Rivers political elite appear sold on election as nothing but bloody vote muscling.

    But even as this advertisement points one finger at the real problems, its four other fingers point to another source too sweet to resist — the Army in the Rivers election.  Yet, the Army as scapegoat won’t take the stain away.

    Now, whoever, among the military personnel involved in the crisis, that betrayed his service code, should be punished.  If it takes a judicial commission of inquiry to determine and punish all of the guilty parties, as the advert suggested, so be it.

    But the question still remains: was it only in Rivers the military were involved in the elections?  And wasn’t the military involved, in the first place, to secure the ballot, since there were serious threats of armed ballot-box snatching?

    So, why was it that it was only in Rivers that killings, maiming and destruction hit such a nadir, during an exercise that should ordinarily be a free carnival to re-elect performing leaders or sack fumbling ones, as the people do in a democracy?

    The bitter truth is that mostly in the past elections, qua elections, never took place in Rivers.  The introduction of the card reader, in 2015, brought fresh panic.  That year, much of that machine was subverted, to make way for the usual phantom returns in the name of “elections”.

    That year, 2015, too saw a split among the mainstream political elite: with Rotimi Amaechi going the new All Progressives Congress (APC) and Nyesom Wike, primed by “Okrika girl” and then sitting First Lady, Patience Jonathan, flying the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag.

    In fact, in 2015, the violence that greeted the Rivers election — pre, during and post — was more far spread and much more hideous, than this year’s.  Then, there were reports of near free-wheeling beheading, and the complete massacres of some families, just because they differ in political opinions.

    The only difference between then and now, it would appear, was because a home boy, Goodluck Jonathan, was the outgoing president; and playing down the massacre was quite expedient.

    If the Rivers people really want to be sincere, they should do a thorough soul-searching.  If they did, they would find out the military involvement was to checkmate the usual practice of muscling the vote, beam their torch on the local political warlords and put the blame squarely where it should be.

    Rivers lives do matter, yes.  But it’s Rivers local political potentates — not INEC, not the police and definitely not the military, which motives were to secure the vote — that endanger those lives.

    So, until the Rivers people tell themselves some home truth, that four-yearly slaughter may well continue.   Too sad and too bad!

  • Publish list of collated LG in Rivers, Coalition tells INEC

    A Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations in Rivers state has challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the list of local government areas in Rivers state where election results have been collated and the ones left uncollated before the process was disrupted.

    The coalition also warned of an impending breakdown of law and order in the state if what they called unholy alliance/collaboration with Governor Wike to force himself on Rivers People using INEC and the Judiciary is not nipped in the bud right away.

    The Coalition said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja that the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Obong Effanga and his staff should be held responsible for any such breakdown of law and order in the state due to their insistence in manipulating the governorship election in favour of Wike.

    Convener of the group, Somina Wokoma warned the commission against turning the state in a theatre of war by refusing to abide by the provisions of the electoral act and doing the biddings of Governor Wike.

    They said rather than vilify the military; INEC should be commended for their act of bravery in protecting the electoral process and the electorate in the state, while demanding the redeployment of the Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Administrative Secretary accusing them of working for Gov. Wike.

    The Coalition accused Effanga of collaborating with the state governor to re-write the results of the election since the suspension of the exercise, wondering why the commission has refused to disclose the names of the 17 local government whose results it claimed has been complied so far.

    The statement reads: “We closely monitored the March 9th governorship and Assembly elections and we are alarmed by the treachery exhibited by Effanga and his staff, especially the Admin Secretary who openly collaborated with Wike in trying to manipulate the governorship election in his favour failing which Effanga had the effrontery to wrongly advise INEC headquarters to suspend a smoothly running election.

    “We the members of the coalition, true sons and daughters of Rivers State and law abiding citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wish to state that the suspension of the election process was a well-orchestrated move by Wike and his co-conspirators, Obong Effanga and Elder Etim Umoh of Rivers State INEC.

    “Since the suspension of the collation of results in the State on March 10, 2019, the outgoing Governor Nyesom Wike and the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner Obong Effanga have been re-writing and doctoring unit results already collated in Rivers State Government House to favour Wike.

    “The suspension of the largely smooth running electoral process in the State is a flagrant violation of section 26 of the electoral Act. 2010 (as amended). INEC’s refusal to publish the names of the acclaimed collated seventeen(17) LGA’s and the outstanding Six(6) LGA’s is a clear act of deceit and treachery & confirmation of our long held suspicion that all is not well with the current Rivers INEC team .

    “That the clearly and openly compromised actions of Obong Effanga and Elder Etim Umoh have made us lose confidence in them to complete the process as this will be tantamount to Wike being also the umpire in his own election. We will resist this to our last blood.

    “The activities of the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner Obong Effanga and the Administrative secretary Elder Etim Umoh is a breach of public trust and abuse of public powers.

    “We have it on record the Governor Wike through the Rivers State REC Obong Effanga secretly changed the list of the Collation and Returning Officers who conducted the presidential election and replaced them with card-carrying members of the PDP who realising that the elections were not favouring their paymaster, triggered the illegal suspension order by INEC.

    “We hereby inform these conspirators against the sovereign will of our people that we know them by name and have all their details. We will not sit idle and watch them destroy the peace of our State and return scot free to their own States. The coalition will act as one United body to ensure that the Rivers State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Obong Effanga and the Administrative Secretary, Elder Etim Umoh and all those who are a party to this nefarious activity are held responsible for any break-down of law & order in the State.

    “We warn the national security agencies of an impending breakdown of law and order should unholy alliance/collaboration with Wike to force himself on Rivers People using INEC and the Judiciary is not nipped in the bud right away

    “We are sure that by now the intelligence agencies have confirmed that if not for the highly professional conduct of the security agencies especially the Military in protecting the electorate during that elections, Governor Wike and his thugs dressed on military uniforms would have turned Rivers State into an ocean of blood, worse than what they did in the 2015 general elections.”

    They however demand the redeployment of the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner Obo Effanga and the administrative secretary Elder Etim Umoh with immediate effect to forestall any foul play that will lead to making our dear Rivers State a theatre of war.

    They also want the INEC Chairman Prof. Yakubu Mahmood to replace them with people of integrity and sound reputation that cannot be bought over by tyrant Governor Nyesom Wike and his blood sucking thugs; we also call on EFCC and other agencies to as a matter of urgency investigate and arrest Obo Effanga, Elder Etim Umoh and their partners in crime.

  • Rivers accuses Army of shifting blames

    The Rivers State government yesterday took exception to the military’s reaction to its indictment by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its alleged interference in the general election.

    In a statement by its Commissioner for Information & Communications Emma Okah, the government accused the military of shifting blames

    The statement reads: “This allegation by the Nigeria Army once again, is a bare-faced lie and I feel saddened by the unfortunate turn of events that the Army has entangled itself.

    “Having been caught red-handed in unprofessional act of election malpractices, the Army are now ashamed of what they did and are looking for who to blame.

    “What were soldiers doing inside collation centres? Did the Chief of Army Staff not warn soldiers to stay away from polling units and Collation Centres and only offer peripheral assistance where they are invited?

    “Has the Army not said that the people wearing military uniforms and disrupting elections and attacking collation centres in Rivers State were not real soldiers?

    “They are now lying against Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike because their plot to rig election and overthrow the will of Rivers people failed.

    “The INEC has come out clear to indict the Army and these accusations against the governor are to divert attention and save their face.

    “Was the governor going to smuggle result at the INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt where the Army invaded the INEC Office until police resisted them?

    “Was it Governor Wike that went to the Khana Collation Centre where the security shot and killed Dr Ferry Gberegbe?

    “Which result sheet was Governor Wike trying to smuggle in as the Army is alleging? Is it the unit results that had been declared at the polling units or the Ward results that have been collated at the wards before going to the State Constituency collation centre? These allegations cannot stand.

    “The Army should look for another story to tell. This one is too cheap and dead on arrival,” the government said.

  • Rivers: PDP tells INEC to declare its candidate winner

    Following the results of the fact finding committee set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the manifest disruption of the collation of the results of the 9th March 2019 Governorship and House of Assembly general elections by the Army and the Federal-State Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), the state PDP has called on INEC to announce its candidate as winner of the election.

    This is contained in the statement by the Rivers State PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, and made available to The Nation yesterday.

    The Rivers State PDP said it has accepted the pronouncements INEC made, after receiving the report of the fact finding committee, as substantial representation of the true state of the electoral process before the suspension.

    According to the statement, “After a thorough and holistic review of the report and findings of its Committee, INEC has in a release on the night of Friday 15th March 2019 made three fundamental verdicts on the elections in Rivers State, as follows:

    “It has the complete collated results of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections in 17 local Government Areas of the State in safe custody;

    “21 out of 32 State constituency results of the state had already been declared and returned as elected prior to when it suspended the electoral process in the state; and it would on 20th March 2019 issue detailed timelines and activities for the completion of the election in the state.”

    The Rivers State PDP, however, wished to draw the INEC’s attention to the fact that in addition to the 17 local government areas with fully collated results, the elections also successfully held and results declared at the unit and ward levels in five of the six other local government areas where full collation of results is still pending.

    The Rivers PDP therefore urged the INEC to follow its guidelines to fill the missing gap, if any, in the collation process “for the remaining five local government areas by generating the full results from the unit results already in its custody and declare our candidates the clear and unassailable winners of the 9th March 2019 Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State.

    “We commend the INEC for standing by the truth and for its courage and principled determination to ensure that the votes of the people of Rivers State as freely and overwhelmingly expressed on the 9th of March 2019 in favour of the PDP effectively count.

    “We also commend the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Yusuf Tukur Buratai, for inaugurating the Major-General TA Gagariga’s led Committee to probe the allegations of misconduct, including the assassination attempt on our Governor, His Excellency Nyesom Ezenwo Wike by soldiers during the 2019 general elections,” the statement added.

    The party also called on the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed Adamuto, to institute a similar panel to probe the brazen involvement of the Rivers State Commander of F-SARS, Mr. Akin Fakorode, and his gang of police operatives in the organised invasion of polling units, collation centres, abduction of electoral officers and the shooting and killing of innocent persons during the general elections at Khana, Gokana, Ikwerre, Eleme, Tai, Oyigbo and Ogu/Bolo local governments of the state.

    Nigerian wanted in Texas on child pornography charges still detained in Canada

    A Nigerian on the run from the law in the United States of America (USA) remains in detention in Canada six months after consenting to extradition.

    Adesanya Prince is wanted in Texas, USA, for alleged child pornography.

    He crossed the border to Canada on foot illegally and was consequently arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which turned him over to Canada Border Services agents.

    His lawyer, Sabrina Lapolla, who represented him at his extradition hearing last year, abruptly left the case in November.

    He said he was “surprised to hear he’s still in Canada.”

    The 50-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of “promotion of child pornography” in Harris County, Texas, on Feb. 23, 2018. He was scheduled to be sentenced on May 10 but instead fled to Canada. He crossed at Roxham Road on March 9, 2018.

     

  • Rivers: Subvert Awara’s victory, expect trouble – Ijaw groups

    Ijaw indigenes of the Niger Delta region have threatened fire and brimstone should the visiting Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) investigative panel on the Rivers State governorship election upturn the alleged victory of the governorship candidate of African Action Congress (AAC), Biokpomabo Awara. Speaking under the aegis of the “Ijaw Nation” yesterday, in Port Harcourt, the state capital, they warned that there will be chaos in the country if the result of the election was subverted against their son, Awara.

    This threat is coming barely 24 hours before the investigative committee set up by INEC makes public its findings on the governorship election in the state. Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe said, “We are asking the FG and INEC to be independent. Let them show that they are truly independent as enshrined in the constitution in declaring the winner of the election.

    “We do this with all honesty and with all humility but if this is not done and we are taken for granted, the nation will hear from us. I repeat, if INEC refuses to do what is needful and circumvents this result, the nation will hear from the Ijaw nation. The Ijaw nation will react in the manner that the whole country and the world at large will be will be surprised. Nigerians should realise that the economy of this nation is in the hands of the Ijaws and we will not compromise our resolve to fight for fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitution,” he threatened.

    “We are free to rule this country. We are free to rule our state by our laws, and if by election and popular votes an Ijaw son is winning in an election, then you suspend the process and keep everybody in suspense, it is unacceptable. Election was held and from results so far released, it was very clear that Biokpormabo Awara of Africa Action Congress, AAC, was leading. But all of a sudden, we were told that the process has been put on hold.

    “Anybody who will take bribe to subvert the will of the people will pay for it. We are not saying that they have done that yet. Various Ijaw groups have spoken on this matter and as the spokesman, I am telling you that the Niger Delta people will speak; if the right thing is done, we will applaud the government. But if the right thing is not done, they will hear from us,” he reiterated.