Election PetitionTribunal: Election Did Not Hold In Rivers – Peterside

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate during the 2015 elections in Rivers State, Mr Dakuku Peterside, on Wednesday took his turn in the witness box at the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal in Abuja, where he told the tribunal that the April 11, 2015 election did not hold in the state.

In his submission, Mr Peterside, who was led by his counsel, Akin Olujinmi, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), simply allocated votes to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Nyesom Wike.

The APC candidate, who 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 reports of International Observers on the Rivers governorship election, manual of electoral officials, result sheets, which were accepted as exhibits by the tribunal while some were withdrawn.

Another witness, Maj. Abdulraham Imam, 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 on the eve of election during routine patrol.

Mr Imam, who is the 52nd witness at the tribunal, said he personally handed over the suspects and weapons to the Divisional Police Officer because of the sensitive nature of the recovered items.

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 and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) out of 18 political parties were recorded in INEC’s data base.