ALL Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state have petitioned the European Union (EU), calling for members nation’s visa ban for key actors fueling the growing tension trailing the outcome of the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections in Rivers.
Rivers APC chieftain, Joe Korka-Waadah, signed the petition to the EU President, released to Journalists Wednesday, with the title,
“Call For Urgent Intervention Before The Situation In Rivers, Nigeria’s Oil Hub Implodes Into A Global Humanitarian Crisis”.
The petition read, “We (APC) implore your intervention in resolving the dangerous threat to democracy posed by the inciting irregularities in the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, particularly on desperate measures being employed by ruling Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under Governor Nyesom Wike’s leadership to subvert the electoral will of the people.
Area (LGA). Two of the agents and himself were killed over the governorship and state assembly elections.
“Post elections, between 25th and 26th March, Police on the orders of the governor broke into a Port Harcourt hotel apartment, harassed, arrested, detained and threatened lives of lawyers perfecting APC papers to file its case against the outcome of the election at the Elections Petition Tribunal. Police in the end released the lawyers unconditionally in a clear case of abuse of duty and unwarranted rights violation.
“A couple of days following, over APC peaceful protest to draw the attention of relevant institutions, INEC and security operatives, to the acts of provocation by the PDP, the ruling party’s hired thugs attacked the state APC secretariat. Governorship candidate of the party, Tony Cole was manhandled among other supporters, just as the armed thugs vandalised the party secretariat and several parked APC members’ cars with fierce shooting.
“It is within the right of anyone not comfortable with the outcome of an election and feels very strongly it was rigged with overwhelming evidence to freely seek legal redress as the APC is resolute on doing in Rivers State. For PDP to try to stop this process amounts to abuse of the democratic process.”
The petitioner also alleged PDP occupation of the INEC, Rivers office and abduction of APC lawyer after receiving election materials at the INEC office in furtherance of PDP’s determination to prevent the APC from filing its case against the outcome of the Rivers governorship election within the permitted time.
The petitioner noted, “There is the limit, they say, to tolerance or patience. Under the tense atmosphere in which the PDP continues to provoke the opposition in Rivers, we fear an implosion of unimaginable proportion with the PDP exercising impunity under the watch of an indifferent police that turns blind eye to the defiance of the law and threat to society.
“Key state actors behind the conspiracy to subvert the will of the people are not faceless. We request the EU puts these elements on visa ban for their abuse of democracy. The use of the police by these individuals to intimidate and arrest dissenting voices is to scuttle the democratic process.
“All the APC and the opposition wants is to let the law prevail, allowing aggrieve parties the statutory right to seek lawful redress before we are forced to take to self help which we don’t want to.”
About Author
