The All Progressives Congress, Rivers State Chapter, has expressed
disappointment over 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 today (Wednesday).
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.
