The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has claimed that the party contested the Saturday’s rerun elections in Rivers State against the Federal government.
According to the PDP, the election was against the Nigerian Army, the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as the All Progressives Congress.
Spokesperson for the faction of the party, Dayo Adeyeye, stated this in a statement in Abuja on Monday.
Adeyeye also rejected the declaration of Magnus Abe as the winner of the Rivers South-East senatorial district election.
Adeyeye said, “The result, which declared Magnus Abe of the APC winner, is an unprecedented massive manipulation of the electoral process in active connivance with the security agencies.
“The whole world knows that election did not take place in the Rivers South-East senatorial district. We, therefore, reject the victorious declaration of Abe with the fabricated results. We demand INEC to cancel the election in that constituency and conduct a fresh poll.
“We promise to avail ourselves of every opportunity to seek redress on this matter in the interest of democracy and that of the constituents who were denied their right to vote.
“We, again, condemn in totality, the adverse role of the Nigerian Army, the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad and other security agencies during the rerun elections in Rivers State.
“It was a nightmare and a complete reversal of their constitutional mandates of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country and the protection of lives and property.”
The party’s spokesman also alleged that there were glaring evidences that the security agencies worked for the APC against the interest of Rivers people.
He added, “There is no gainsaying that the rerun elections in Rivers State were not a contest between political parties. It was majorly a contest that pitted the PDP against the Army, the Police, the INEC, the APC, and the Federal Government of Nigeria represented by the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and others.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the APC has rubbished the allegations of the PDP, describing it as unfounded and expected.
Deputy National Chairman of the party, Mr. Segun Oni, said this in response to the allegations of rigging levelled by the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the PDP against the APC.
Oni said, “We have won; they have lost, simple. Whatever they now want to make out of it, we should allow them. You cannot beat a child and prevent that child from crying.
“So, anybody who loses an election will naturally look for space to tell his own side of the story, allow them.
“The system provides very clear steps to be taken for anyone who is not satisfied with an election result. We cannot prevent them from saying what they are saying.
“They lost and you don’t expect them not to say what they are saying. The election has been won and lost, if anyone has any complaint there are procedures to be followed to seek redress. They can go to court.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers-West, Osinachukwu Ideozu, the winner of the election in the senatorial district.
The Returning Officer for the senatorial district, Prof Raphael Echebiri, announced that Ideozu got 107,166 votes to defeat his opponent from the All Progressives Congress, Otelemaba Amachree, who polled 46,898 votes.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside has vowed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would reject the result of Rivers East Senatorial District rerun election.
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