Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Nigeria Police of colluding with the All Progressives Congress, APC, to rig the December 10, 2016 legislative rerun in the state.
Wike accused the state APC of printing fake result sheets and other election materials inside a building located at No. 12, Isiokpo Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt.
The governor, who spoke with journalists on Sunday, November 6, 2016 at the Government House in Port Harcourt, also alleged that the police had refused to charge those behind the crime to court.
But the State APC insisted that it knew nothing about the mass production of some election materials, adding that the entire incident was stage-managed by the PDP.
The police on Saturday smashed a fake election result sheet-printing syndicate in the state capital.
Wike told journalists that the police had refused to arrest some members of the APC who were allegedly behind the printing of fake result sheets few weeks to the legislative rerun election.
“Yesterday, we burst the gang that has been printing ballot papers and result sheets for elections that have been suspended. You can see why we are saying that INEC is colluding with APC to rig the election. But INEC has been saying it is because of insecurity.
“These people (APC) are aware of the units where the elections will take place. Meanwhile, INEC has not told us the units where the rerun elections will be conducted. APC had gone ahead to print sensitive materials for senatorial and House of Representatives and House of Assembly.
“INEC has a hidden agenda and that is to rig this election. As for security, take for example, the police. I made sure that the team had a video of the evidence before handing it over to the police. You know that police can kill evidence.”
The governor, however, said that instead of police charging them to court, “the police are saying that they have an order to release the suspects. We know that the APC will not own up to it (the crime).”
He warned that the Peoples Democratic Party in the state would resist any attempt to rig the rerun election in the state.
Efforts to get the reaction of the State Police Command proved futile as calls to the mobile phone of the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, were not answered while a text message to him did not also yield any response.
