The All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State have stormed the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Port Harcourt protesting the continued refusal to allow them access to Certified True Copies of documents used in the just-concluded elections.
They alleged INEC deliberate frustration from approaching the elections Petitions Tribunal to prove their case, saying they have just 21 days to file their petitions.
Addressing newsmen at the commission’s office along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, Cole said they were there to express their frustrations over the attitude of the electoral umpire in the state.
“I am not happy at all. We have come to INEC to express our deep frustration at what is going on. Essentially, we are time bound. We have 21 days from the time that the elections were declared to file our petitions.”
He stated that some of the party’s House of Assembly candidates had their declaration on the 18th, which was the day of election, saying, “Two weeks have gone we have written, we have required for INEC to release the CTC documents, nothing.
“They have not released one single CTC document. And we have to prepare a brief, we have to go to Court. We have to prepare for Tribunals.”
Cole stated that INEC has refused to act on a court order the party secured for them to release the documents to enable the party to proceed to the Tribunal, describing the act as suspicious.
“Give us what we need so that we can go to Court. Let us go to the Tribunal and present a case. But if you release documents to us a day before the tribunal, what do we do?”
The State APC governorship candidate, however, said he spoke to the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, saying, “He has promised that Monday something will happen. So we will be back on Monday.”
Cole insisted that there were a lot of foul play in the March 18th election, saying, “Asari-Toru is a clear example. The results were totally changed.
“The DG was at the collation center, he made a protest against it. It was still accepted. Having been accepted, give us the document, let us review what happened. Nobody is answering us. I am very suspicious
On his part, the State APC Legal Adviser, Dike Iheanhichukwu alleged that the INEC in state was ‘highly compromised’ and doing the bidding of some powerful forces in the state.
Iheanhichukwu said the party will shut down the commission’s office on Monday if their demands were not met. He said, “We have made applications asking INEC Rivers State to oblige us of CTC of EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and other related EC series as concerned elections.
NAN
