Peterside, Army Insist No Election Held In Rivers State

The All Progressives Congress [APC ] governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside and officers of the Nigerian Army today took their turn in the witness box of the State governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja today to reiterate their claim that no election held in the state on April 11.

Peterside who entered the witness box at about 4.30 pm local time told the tribunal that the April 11, 2015 election did not hold in Rivers State. Led by his counsel, Akin Olujinmi [SAN], the APC candidate said the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] simply allocated votes to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], Nyesom Wike.

The APC candidate who said he voted at his Opobo/ Nkoro Local Government Area, told the tribunal that few minutes after casting his votes, some hoodlums came and carted away election materials.

He tendered some documents including report of International observers on the Rivers governorship election, Manual of electoral officials, result sheets which were accepted as exhibits by the tribunal.

At the end of his evidence, Peterside said he had no doubt that the tribunal will do justice to his petition so that Rivers people can move ahead and work for the good people of the state. He said that the judgment of the tribunal will afford the Rivers people an opportunity of casting their votes for the candidate of their choice and their dream to have a governor that will work for their interest.

“A governor who is truly committed to their yearnings and aspiration and I believe firmly that I stand as the candidate for the people”, he added. Taking its turn also at the tribunal, the Nigerian Army [NA] continued their evidence at the tribunal with more revelations of how the April 11, 2015 governorship election in Rivers State was characterized by sporadic shootings, killings and snatching of electoral materials perpetrated by cult groups and hoodlums.

In his evidence in chief today, Major Abdulraham Immam told the tribunal how his team comprising 55 soldiers were able to arrest two people and recovered over 80 machetes, three AK 47 riffles, in Gegema/Akukutoro Local Government Areas of the state during routine patrol on the eve of election.

Immam who is the 52^nd APC witness at the tribunal said he personally handed over the suspects and weapons to the Divisional Police Officer [DPO] in the area because of the sensitive nature of the recovered items.

According to him, “I was with the DPO in the night when they brought somebody that was shot. He died later on the way to the hospital. Sporadic shooting continued that night in the two Local government Areas.”

The Army officer who said he was the JTF Commander in charge of Gegema/ Akukutoro LGAs said he was drafted in Rivers in December 2014.

He said on arrival at the two local governments on the eve of the election, there were shootings everywhere with people making distress calls about the activities of hoodlums and cult groups.

“On the eve of election, I received distress calls that hoodlums were threatening people to leave the area. I also received complaints that the hoodlums had guns. I went out to see things myself, there were shootings in the area. We patrolled the entire place but we could not make any arrest because the hoodlums ran away.

“In the evening of April 10, 2015, I directed my soldiers to remove their uniforms and dress in mufti. I send them to spy the town and they saw the hoodlums. However, my soldiers could not arrest them because they were not carrying arms.

“We later circled the area with high patrol vehicles and were able to arrest two of the hoodlums with one AK 47 riffle. Another patrol team arrested three hoodlums with two AK 47 riffles in Akukutoro. We also confiscated 35 machetes on the eve of the election and I personally handed the boys, guns and machetes to the Divisional Police Officer [DPO] because they were sensitive items.”

The Army officer further stated that they were still cases of gunshots in the early hours of April 11 as they patrolled the area to scare away the hoodlums and were able to confiscate over 50 machetes.

In his evidence in chief, a chieftain of the APC, Mr. Achi William-Wobodo, who represented the party at the tribunal said only four political parties- PDP, APC, Labour Party [LP] and APGA out of 18 political parties were recorded into INEC data base.