Rivers State
governor, Nyesom Wike, has cast doubts over the ability of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free, fair and credible
elections in 2019.
While
speaking at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Thursday, November 15,
2018, Wike said the commission's mandate has been compromised by the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC). He accused the commission of being partisan
towards the ruling party.
He said,
"Let's not deceive ourselves; INEC is not prepared for credible elections.
If there is an agency that is not prepared for 2019, it is INEC. I have no
confidence in INEC. There is no amount of INEC's preparations that will
convince me.
"INEC
chooses how it interprets laws to suit those they support. They choose the
court orders to obey and the ones to disregard.
"In one
state where it favours a particular party, they obey. In another state, INEC
will claim they are yet to see judgments not in favour of the party they
support."
The governor
also warned that the people of Rivers will not condone any attempts to rig
elections in the state in 2019.
"In
2019, whoever wants to manipulate the process to destroy the outcome, the people
will come after that person and the family.
"We
will not agree that for anybody to rig elections here in Rivers State. Nobody will do anything contrary to the will
of the people," he said.
He further
alleged that the Federal Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, has
pushed back on efforts to amend the Electoral Act because of its plans to manipulate
the elections in 2019.
The governor
had previously alleged in September that the current government had hatched a
plot to postpone elections in Rivers State by using security agencies to cause
crisis. He also claimed the government was ready to kill him and several other
Nigerians to cheat in the 2019 general elections.
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