TheNewsGuru

Tag: rivers

  • Rivers PDP alleges plots by APC to disrupt elections

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers has alleged plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC ) to destabilise the general elections in the state.

    Mr Desmond Akawo, Director-General, Rivers PDP Campaign Council, made the allegation at a news conference on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.

    Akawo said that it became necessary to draw the attention of Nigerians and the international community to the plot and determination of the APC to prevent the elections from holding on Feb. 23 and March 9 in the state.

    It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had slated Feb. 23, and March 9 for the Presidential/ National Assembly and Governorship/State Assembly elections respectively.

    Akawo said that indications in the state showed that the APC might scuttle the rights of the people of the state to a free and fair electoral process.

    The director-general said that the APC at different fora had threatened that there would be no elections in the state until all pending litigations by the APC got to the apex Court for final decision.

    Akawo said that the PDP was dismayed over continued silence of the Federal Government and the security agencies whom, he alleged, had failed to caution those behind such widely published threats capable of inciting the people of the state.

    “The APC in a viral media publication by one of its chieftains, Mr Tonye Princewill on the Daily Post newspaper of Feb. 7, had said, it will be lawful to be lawless if INEC fails to unlawfully include the APC and its candidates on the ballot paper.”

    “In all of these threats by some APC chieftains, including the one issued during the Rivers Presidential campaign rally by the Transportation Minister, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, who even incited his supporters with a war song, had yet to attract any condemnation by ether the security agencies nor the Federal Government,” he said.

    Akawo also alleged that several undemocratic strategies ranging from threats to even moves to bribe electoral officers and connive with security agencies to tamper with sensitive electoral materials had been employed by Rivers APC to disrupt smooth process.

    In the same vain, Mr Ferdinand Anabraba, Chairman PDP Campaign Council, also alleged that the APC had displayed high level desperation and ready to do anything toward winning elections in the state.

    “Just this morning, I got an information that my property in Abonima had forcefully been occupied by the army and the officers who are stationed there and are being used to cause crises in Abonima and Akuku-Toru Local Government Councils.

    “It is important to note that whatever crises that will arise in Rivers, we will know its coming from the APC and the security agencies,” he alleged.

    Meanwhile efforts by NAN to reach the APC stalwarts to react to the allegations failed before this publication.

  • SARS recovers 31 stolen card readers in Rivers

    SARS recovers 31 stolen card readers in Rivers

    Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Rivers State on Monday recovered 31 Electronic Card Readers (ECRs) believed to have been stolen from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The SRCs were recovered in a bush on Rumuji-Emohua axis of the East-West Road in the Southsouth state. They were allegedly thrown into the bush by thugs who were fleeing to escape arrest.

    The thugs were believed to be working for one of the major political parties.

    After the recovery, SARS notified the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Rivers State, Mr. Obo Effanga, seeking for more information and the cooperation of the commission and its officials to ensure detailed investigation.

    A top official of the SARS in Rivers said the hoodlums, who drove in a brown Toyota Camry saloon car around 9am on Saturday, were given a hot chase by operatives of the squad, making them to escape, after throwing a bag containing the 31 card readers into the bush.

    The SARS chief also revealed that operatives of the police formation continued to search the bush, leading to the later discovery and recovery of the 31 stolen card readers, which was revealed by intelligence as perpetrated by political thugs.

    According to the SARS’ top official, the recovered card readers were still in police custody.

    It was also learnt that the hoodlums’ car left Port Harcourt for communities in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers to perfect their rigging plans, unaware of 11th hour postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Rivers SARS, in a letter to the REC of INEC in the state, with reference number: AR:3000/RVS/SARS/RVS/VOL.8/272, dated February 16 and received/signed yesterday at 8 a.m. by an INEC official, titled: “Investigation Activities. Re: Stolen and recovered INEC Card Readers by ASP Monday Mathias and Team,”was signed by Rivers Commander of SARS, Mr. Akin Fakorede, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).

    The letter reads: “The above-named detective and team are serving members of this formation and are investigating a case of suspected stolen/recovered INEC’s card readers.

    “You are kindly requested to assist the team in the course of the investigation. Attached herewith are the serial numbers of the INEC’s card readers for ease of reference. Accept the best assurances of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police (Usman Belel), please.”

    When contacted for his reaction on Monday, the REC of INEC in Rivers, said: “I am still expecting the investigating SARS operatives to come to INEC office in Port Harcourt, for further details.”

  • No elections in Rivers without our candidates, APC vows

    The All Progressives Congress Governorship campaign organisation in Rivers state has declared there will be no elections if its candidates are not listed in the ballot in compliance with a Court of Appeal ruling for stay of execution.

    The organisation also accused the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, of working with Governor Nyesom Wike to frustrate the party in the state.

    Director of Strategic Communication in the Tonye Princewill Campaign Organisation, in a statement, said they have taken to be fairly relisted on the ballot papers, including the contempt of court proceedings served on INEC.

    He vowed if they continue to treat APC in Rivers state with disdain, the election will still not hold.

    “Even though the postponement of the elections did not come to me as a total surprise, I was still expecting the INEC Chairman to stubbornly push on and try to force through the elections regardless. I still see disaster come Saturday.

    “Unless we’re on the ballot, the election won’t be smooth anywhere. The God of Rivers state wants justice and He will get it. We have not even had so much as an explanation from INEC.”

    He said that the INEC Chairman who was once a subordinate to Wike when the Governor was supervising Minister of Education under Jonathan may have skeletons in his TETFUND years that Wike can expose.

    “I had continued to maintain that Wike had since penetrated the judiciary, our security agencies and civil society with our money.

    “Now it appears that the electoral umpire too is no longer immune to the Wike virus too.

    “All dealing with him do need to be made aware, your temporary high will eventually be replaced by very permanent lows.

    “I’ve seen people vomiting ill-gotten wealth to then return it to the treasury. I’ve seen men and women lose their jobs for Wike.

    “It’s not a very pleasant sight. We have two appeal court orders and one Supreme Court judgement in our favour.

    “But if you listen to the Wike paid media, you will think that we lost.”

  • Rivers APC Rally: Abe condoles bereaved families, rebuffs Amaechi

    Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly has condoled families who lost their loved ones at the Presidential campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that held at Adokiye Amiesiemeka Stadium on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.

    In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson, Abe attributed the cause of the incident to poor crowd management techniques and expressed regret over the unfortunate incident.

    The senator said: “I wish to extend my sincere condolences to the family of all those who lost their lives yesterday (Tuesday). It was very unfortunate.

    “Several times in the cause of campaigns in this country, this kind of incident has occurred out of poor crowd management techniques and sometimes overzealousness on the part of security agents and I believe like everyone that this incident was avoidable”.

    Abe, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on FERMA prayed God to grant the departed souls eternal rest.

    He commended APC party faithful for turning out en mass at the presidential campaign rally to give President Muhammadu Buhari a resounding welcome and the traditional Rivers hospitality.

    The APC chieftain went further to applaud the resilience of party members for holding on to their peaceful disposition and commitment despite all the childish provocations, abuses, and insults meted out to other leaders of the party at the venue.

    The Senator rebuffed the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, for inciting utterances which is unbecoming of a leader.

    Abe said, “One will recollect that each time the Minister of Transportation talks, he talks of betrayal, but he never bothered to sit down to ask himself how he has betrayed the expectation of members of this party who trusted him to provide a fair leadership and a level playing field for all party members to participate in party activities.

    “It is that failure that has resulted in the current situation in the party. I want to congratulate members of the party who stood boldly and valiantly to fight for their rights because the APC is the party of change, we must ensure that our rights are protected, respected and enhanced in the APC and it is that dream that we are pursuing.”

  • JUST IN: APC members in Rivers protest at INEC headquarters

    … insist electoral commission must obey Court of Appeal ruling to relist party, candidates

    Thousands of protesting members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, from 8 a.m. today, blocked the main entrance of Rivers headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Aba Road in Port Harcourt, insisting that the electoral commission must obey the ruling of Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt and relist the main opposition party in the state (APC) and its candidates.

    The aggrieved protesters, who were armed with placards bearing various inscriptions and chanting: “No APC, no elections in Rivers State,” were led by the party’s candidate for Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Oji Ngofa, who is Nigeria’s Ambassador to The Netherlands.

    INEC’s Head of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Edwin Enabor, addressed the protesters and he informed them that the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in Rivers, Mr. Obo Effanga, had not got to the office.

    Ngofa, however, insisted that he and other APC members would not leave, until their protest letter was personally handed over to the REC of INEC in Rivers, for onward transmission to the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    The protesters were still in front of INEC office, with the gate still blocked, as at press time.

    More details later…

  • Police block access to INEC office in Rivers

    A squad of policemen on Thursday morning obstructed the entrance to the Rivers State headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Port Harcourt.

     

    The policemen had apart from cordoning off INEC office, mounted a roadblock on the lane close to the commission.

     

    The early morning barricade may not be unrelated with the planned protest of members of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State over the exclusion of their candidates from the general election by court pronouncements.

     

     

    Details later…

  • Supreme Court: APC can’t present candidates in Rivers for elections

    Supreme Court: APC can’t present candidates in Rivers for elections

    The Supreme Court on Friday finally out paid to the hopes of the All Progressives Congress to present candidates for the upcoming general elections in Rivers State.

    The hope of the party had risen last week when the Court of Appeal gave it a reprieve that the Independent National Electoral Commission could go ahead and list its candidates for the elections scheduled for February 16 and March 2, 2019.

    However on Friday, the Supreme Court backed the ruling of the High Court of Rivers State that the party cannot present candidates for the election.

    The ruling of the lower court was based on the disobedience by the two factions of the party in the state not to conduct primaries except otherwise directed.

  • Gunmen shoot Assembly leader dead in Rivers

    Gunmen have shot dead the Leader of the Ahoada West legislative Assembly, Rivers State, Ekele Chikobi, popularly known as “EFCC” on Thursday along the now notorious Ahole-Emohua axis of the East West road.

    This is coming as suspected pirates, armed with sophisticated weapons raided the Bakana Jetty on Thursday, after shooting sporadically to scare people and carted away seven boats.

    Eyewitness report has it that Ekele was traveling in the convoy of the lawmaker representing Ahoada West Constituency in the Rivers House of Assembly, Augustine Wanaka Okpokori, when they were ambushed by gunmen who opened fire on them killing Ekele, while scores of others sustained bullet wounds.

    “In the melee, the hoodlums whisked away some of the passengers into the bush. The deceased lawmaker were returning to Port Harcourt after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ward to ward campaign ahead of the general elections”.

    The killing of the young politician has elicited anger among the Ekpeye Youth umbrella body who has called on the security agencies to overhaul the security along the East West road, especially tge Emohua stretch.

    They also accused the policemen along that route of connivance.They also called on the youth leaders of Rumuji, Elele, Ndele and Emohua to call their youths to order to avoid reprisal attacks, stating that the killing of the young Ekpeye politician was one too many in recent weeks and month.

    In both incidents,the Rivers State Police Command has not made comments on both incidents.

    In a related development, suspected Pirates, armed with sophisticated weapons raided the Bakana Jetty and carted away seven boats.

    Confirming this incident in a telephone interview, the president of Bakana Federation, Francis Dick, narrated that the suspected pirates stormed the jetty after shooting sporadically, towed away the speedboats anchored at the jetty.

    According to Bakana Youth Leader, Francis Dick, no casualty was recorded but that the shooting that lasted for about half an hour caused panic, making coastal residents scamper for safety.

    “Late last night, some armed hoodlums stormed tge Bakana jetty, shot sporadically, loosen the packed boats and towed seven of them away. In less than an hour, they made a return trip to steal more. But residents who were already awake challenged them before they fled, but not without shooting severely,” the Youth leader said.

    He further revealed that “along the coastline of Bakana, there were a lot of illegal activities of the Niger Delta youths. When they steal the boats, the highly priced item on it are the engines on the stolen speedboats, which they easily sell off. The engines are very expensive in the boats market.

    “This is a regular occurrence. In the second week of January, similar incident happened.”

    Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government has called on the Inspector General of Police, Department of State Services and other security agencies to fish out the killers of Ahoada West LG Legislative Assembly, Ekele.

  • 2019: INEC maintains stance, omits APC from governorship, state assembly elections in Zamfara, Rivers

    2019: INEC maintains stance, omits APC from governorship, state assembly elections in Zamfara, Rivers

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday maintained its earlier stance to disqualify the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in Rivers and Zamfara States from participating at the 2019 elections.

    The electoral body in its final list of governorship and House of Assembly candidates omitted candidates of the party in both states

    Recall that INEC had on Thursday, January 17, released a list signed by the commission’s secretary, Rose Orianran-Anthony and while candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Labour Party among others made the list, those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were excluded.

    A Federal High court in Port Harcourt, the state capital had nullified the direct and indirect primaries conducted by the two factions of the APC in Rivers.

    The court presided over by Justice Kolawole Omotosho held that both primaries were not conducted according to the law.

    Justice Omotosho had also restrained the electoral body from recognising Tonye Cole and Magnus Abe as governorship candidates of the APC in the general elections.

    Senator Abe was declared the winner of a direct governorship primary conducted by a faction of the party in 2018 after polling 144, 929 votes.

    But Cole emerged the winner of an indirect primary held by another faction with 3,329 votes.

    Following the rulings, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers, Obo Effanga, insisted that the electoral umpire would always obey court injunctions.

    In a similar vein, the electoral body also omitted names of candidates of the APC from its list in Zamfara State.

    INEC which had earlier said it would release the final list of governorship and State Assembly candidates on Thursday, however, said the status quo remained unchanged.

    The electoral umpire made the clarification in a statement issued on Wednesday night by its National Commissioners and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye.

    He said, “The Independent National Electoral Commission met on Wednesday, January 30 2019 and among other things approved the final list of candidates for the governorship, State Assembly and FCT Area Council elections scheduled to hold on March 2, 2019.

    “On the whole, there are 1, 066 candidates for the governorship elections, 14, 583 for the State Assembly elections and 806 for the FCT Area Council elections broken down into 105 Chairmanship candidates and 701 councillorship candidates. “

     

  • Rivers APC crisis: Carry your cross, leave Wike alone, PDP tells Cole, others

    Rivers APC crisis: Carry your cross, leave Wike alone, PDP tells Cole, others

    The Rivers State PDP Campaign Council has warned the embattled factional governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Arch Tonye Cole and other APC aspirants dropped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state to face their problems with courage by clearing the mess they brought upon their party instead of blaming Gov Nyesom Ezenwo Wike for their woes.

    Recall that the dropped APC aspirants had in a press conference on Thursday accused Gov Wike of colluding with INEC and meddling in the affairs of the APC. However, in a swift reaction, the Director of Information and Communications of the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council, Emma Okah said the aspirants are being haunted by their greed and inordinate ambition to reap where they did not sow in the APC. He denies that Gov Wike is colluding with INEC or meddling in the affairs of the APC

    “These candidates are being clever by half. They are running and they know what is chasing them. They know what they did in the APC to give rise to what befell the party” Okah said, pointing out that they need to summon the courage to eat the sour food they cooked for themselves.

     

    According to Okah, Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has no hand in the self inflicted problem the APC brought upon itself through recurring acts of impunity, lack of respect for the judiciary, and want of internal democracy in their party. Wike is not a member of APC. He never asked the APC to disobey court order or refuse to resolve internal problems.

    Going further, Okah said this latter day lamentation is understable and pathethic but can somebody tell them that those who play God dance the music the gods play for them and advised them to appease their party men and seek the face of God.

    On the threat by these aspirants to disrupt the polls if they are not restored in the ballot, Okah said it would be a joke taken too far, describing them as unepentant products of lawlessness, impunity and disorder.

     

    According to Okah, no amount of press conference or insults on Gov Wike by these aspirants will stop Gov Wike from reaping the fruit of support and solidarity which the people of Rivers State have placed at his disposal. The result will be a landslide victory in the forthcoming polls.