APC, APGA, SDP guber candidates want Rivers poll cancelled

premiumtimesng.com

The governorship candidates of three political parties in Rivers have called for the cancellation of the governorship and house of assembly elections in the state.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Rivers State, is expected to be declared winner of the poll.

But Dakuku Peterside of the APC, Charles Harry of APGA and Minaibim Harry of SDP said INEC should order a re-run, saying the election was charaterised by widespread violence and intimidation of voters.

The APGA candidate, Charles Harry, who spoke on behalf of others, called on INEC to cancel the election because it was marred by irregularities.

Mr. Harry said thugs made away with election materials and fired indiscriminately to scare voters, so that they could manipulate the election results.

‘’In Buguma, headquarter of Asari-Toru Local Government, there was no accreditation because there were no election materials in place.

‘’Elsewhere, the disenfranchisement of Rivers people was taken to a level unprecedented in the history of electioneering in the state.

‘’There was intimidation, harassment and outright manipulation of the electoral process,’’ he said.

Mr. Harry said they were aware that some arrests were made by the police of those allegedly compromising the election.

Dakuku Peterside of the APC said the election was characterized by widespread violence that made it impossible for the people to come out to vote.

He urged INEC to cancel the election and fix a new date for a re-run.

In her reaction, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Gesila Khan, said elections were successfully held in the state.

She said the commission had cancelled elections in nine wards and ordered a re-run, where it was established that no election took place.