By Nwaorgu Faustinus
The All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers State Chapter has noted with disappointment the continued unguarded utterances by the outgoing Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission [INEC], Prof. Attahiru Jega suggesting that the massive electoral fraud perpetrated during the last general elections in Rivers State was not as huge as being reported.
The party in a statement signed by its publicity secretary Mr Chris Finebone said, ‘It is sad that despite the fact that the entire gamut of that exercise is now the subject of serious dispute at the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, Prof. Jega will, at the slightest excuse, attempt to publicly downplay the anomie his staff led by Dame Gesila Khan connived with the PDP to perpetrate in Rivers State last March 28 and April 11, 2015.
For the APC, Prof. Jega needs not be reminded that the kind of unguarded utterances he has been making about those elections are subjudicial to the matters before the Tribunal.
“We sincerely sympathise with Prof. Jega for struggling to shore up his reputation and paint himself as a superhuman before the eyes of the world. However, we believe that the Professor should be satisfied with the modest achievements the INEC has made under his watch and not try to forcefully lay claim to having performed extremely well”.
“But more worrying to the APC is that Prof Jega appears not to accept the advice he issued to former Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe during the announcement of the Presidential election results last March. When Orubebe went berserk and threw all caution to the wind before the world following his disappointment with the election results, Prof. Jega managed to bring the situation under control when he advised the rampaging former Minister to guard his utterances and behave like the elder statesman he was”.
“It is a bit troubling to the APC that Prof Attahiru Jega has himself refused to act according to that advice for reasons best known to him. We urge him to so do to avoid the embarrassment of being dragged before the tribunal for contempt”.
“We suspect that Prof Jega does not appreciate the magnitude of what his subordinates dished out in some states of the Federation during the election; the best option for him now is to speak about only those things he personally carried out or directly supervised”.
In the meantime, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers State Chapter has re-assured its numerous supporters that the tortuous journey to recover its alleged stolen mandate during the last general elections is proceeding apace.
Attached herewith is the Order of Tribunal directing the Independent Electoral Commission [INEC] to allow the APC and its Counsels including forensic experts to inspect, photocopy and obtain certified true copies of all eletoral materials related to or in connection with the conduct of the rivers state governorship election held on 11th and 12th days of april, 2015 including but not limited to used and unused ballot papers; the voters register used in the conduct of the said election; forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D, EC8E, EC17, EC17A, EC25A, EC25A[1], EC25B, EC25B[1] EC25D, EC40A, EC40B, EC40C, EC40G, EC40H, EC40J AND EC50D and filled incident forms, PVCs and Card Readers used in the said elections in all polling units in Rivers State.
Counsels to the APC have duly obtained assurances from INEC for the exercise to commence.
The APC informed its numerous leaders, supporters, admirers and the public that persons strutting our political space in Rivers State today with alleged stolen mandate of the people shall soon become history by God’s grace.
“Indeed, the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see them again no more forever. It is only a matter of time” the statement concluded.
