Amb. Sokari Afiesmama, the Chief Executive Officer, Mission for Rescue of Nigeria’s Socio-cultural Environment, has alleged that the Rivers re-run legislative election in Phalga Constituency 1 in Port Harcourt on March 19 was fraught with irregularities.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, he said that the mission was interested in promoting peace and developed environment, noting that such environment could be sustained by acceptable elections.
He alleged that elections in Ward 4, Ward 6, Ward 7, Ward 19 and Ward 20 in Phalga Constituency 1, Port Harcourt, were disrupted by violence.
The statement said that although the Independent National Electoral Commission had cancelled the re-run elections in held in eight out of the state’s 23 local government areas, election in Phalga should be cancelled also.
“We are concerned about the wide spread of violence on a simultaneous sequence in the three senatorial districts which marred the election process.
“It is clear indication that some political gladiators want to disorganise the well being of Rivers and we can observe senseless instigation of violence that attracts the declaration of state of emergency.
“We are calling on the Federal Government to immediately step up security and track those that instigated the violence to ensure free, fair and credible election in the future.
We also demand that offenders should be punished according to the law,’’ Afiesmama said.
He also urged the appropriate authorities to investigate the alleged shootings and detonation of explosives to disperse electorate by some militants in some areas of the state where elections were held.
Meanwhile, INEC has said that it would not hold any elections in Rivers until peace is restored.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, had also earlier announced that INEC would no longer release results due to the irregularities witnessed during the elections.
NAN
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