Rivers Election Was Peaceful, Wike Tells Election Petition Tribunal

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike on Wednesday insisted that the April 11 governorship election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers State was held under a peaceful atmosphere devoid of ballot box snatching, hijacking of election materials and other forms of violence.

At the resumed sitting of the tribunal in Abuja, lawyer to Governor Wike, Mr Okey Wali who called seven witnesses told the tribunal that soldiers were not anywhere near polling booths as voters exercised their civic rights freely.

He argued that the reports making the round that elections never held in rivers state is untrue.

Under cross examination by the counsel to the petitioners, some of the witnesses admitted that card readers failed in some of the polling units but the election was conducted with the use of manual voters register.

Lawyers to the Rivers State Governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expressed satisfaction with the testimony of the witnesses as they promised to produce more witnesses.

Although the lawyer to INEC declined speaking on camera on the ground that he is a public servant, lawyer to the petitioners insisted that he is prepared to prove that elections were not conducted by the electoral umpire in Rivers State.

The tribunal adjourned to enable panel members pay a condolence visit to the Court of Appeal over the death of two justices, who lost their lives at the Hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia, the defence team of Governor Wike now has five more days to present their remaining witnesses.

Culled from www.channelstv.com

Book Review: ‘Sector IV’ a war story so vivid and compelling.

By China Acheru

Have you ever been held spellbound by a story, so much so that the thin veil that separates fiction and reality simply melts before your eyes? The plot crystallizes and your subconscious drifts into a melancholic state where you virtually become one of the characters in the story?

That story is Sector IV.

The title may appear insignificant until you have devoured a third of Abigail Anaba’s book, Sector IV.

The setting is Eastern Nigeria between 1967 and 1970 during the Nigeria-Biafra war.

‘Another Biafra war story’ I hear you say? Certainly not! In the past, we have read from the Generals, coup plotters and other major players in the war but Anaba takes us somewhere else.

Many lives were affected by this war and Sector IV captures the chequered emotions of love, hate, jealousy, conspiracy, tragedy, family life and of course the war itself from a completely different angle.

Abigail’s narrative is so compelling and engrossing that as early as page five, you invariably find yourself assuming a character walking the dirt paths of Nchara; at the stream with Onyinyechi taking a bath or watching from a distance; you are gripped with fear as the python slithers through foliage, extends its wide jaws close to 180 degrees and swallows ……! I will not ruin your adventure and choose to stop here.

Sector IV encompasses a wide variety of emotions; tragic love where Onyinyechi falls head over heels for Duke; uncertainty as in Onyinyechi and Okwuduwa not knowing which way to go; hate as the reciprocal emotions between Nigerians and Biafrans; jealousy being what Ogechi felt towards Onyinyechi; conspiracy as personified by Duke; tragedy is Onyinyechi and the chain of deaths surrounding her in the space of just two weeks coupled with all the heartbreak and rejections, and then of course the war itself.  

If you love a good old fictional war story interlaced with romance, history lessons, suspense and tragedy then you should grab this book by visiting www.konga.com, www.eljara.com or for digital copies, www.amazon.com.

And if the allure of paper is too strong to resist or the good old delivery style, you can purchase a copy and get it sent to your doorstep for only N2500 or you can pick it up yourself in any of the following cities - Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Enugu for N2,000.

You can follow Abigail Anaba on twitter @Anabagail.

INEC opens defense. Declares Rivers elections free and fair

The  Independent  National  Electoral  Commission, INEC,  on Thursday  opened its defence of the Rivers  State  Governorship  Election  with  a declaration  that the election  was  held in compliance  with  the  Electoral  Act  and the electoral  guidelines.  INEC  tendered  relevant  documents  and  electoral  materials  to prove the peaceful  and  legal  conduct of  the  election  with  the INEC   Electoral  Officer of Obio /Akpor, Mr Ebikoro  Tebekaemi testifying  to the  smooth  conduct  of  the  election   Tebekaemi  stated that INEC  used both card readers  and manual  accreditation for the April  11governorship  election  in Obio /Akpor  Local  Government  Area.  According  to  him,  a total  number  of  304,745 voters were accredited  using both card readers  and manual accreditation.  He said  of the number,  Card readers  accounted for  40,281 voters. The Obio/Akpor Local Government Area INEC  Electoral  Officer said that the distribution  of  election  materials and  actual  voting  took place  under a peaceful  environment  ensured  by the  Police,  the  Army  and other security  agencies.  He said  that all through  the  election  he did not receive  any reports  of snatching  of election  materials,  clash between  INEC  staff and thugs and the disruption  of  election.  Tebekaemi  denied  the  allegation  by the  Rivers  State  APC  that INEC  officials  colluded  with  the  PDP and security  agents   to engage  in multiple  thumb  printing  and electoral  malpractices.  He added that it was untrue that security  agents arrested  a bus conveying  electoral materials  and INEC  staff to an unauthorised  destination.  He said  no such report  was brought  to  his notice.  The INEC  Obio / Akpor Local Government Area Electoral  Officer said that enough  election  materials  were distributed to all the  wards of the LGA on April  11. He further  informed that  out of the 17 wards in Obio/Akpor Local  Government  Area,  governorship  election  held successfully  in 15 wards. He said  the two  wards where election  did not  hold are: wards 12 and 13. He was led in evidence  by counsel  to  INEC,  Onyechi  Ikpeazu (SAN )  and was cross examined  by counsel  to  Governor  Nyesom Wike,  Emmanuel  Ukala  (SAN ). Under cross  examination  by Chief Akin Olujimi  (SAN ) ,  Tebekaemi  maintained that at no time  did INEC  meet to decide  that only card readers  be used for governorship  election.  He said he was not aware of any press release  stopping  manual  accreditation  as it was never communicated to him officially .  INEC  has 6 days to present her case. The matter was adjourned  to Friday  for further defence by the  Electoral  Body.

Revealed: Charles Kaye Okoye, paraded as INEC staff, is a card carrying APC member

The so-called INEC staff, Mr Charles Kaye Okoye used by the Rivers State APC as a witness at the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal Sitting in Abuja true identity has been revealed.  He is a card carrying member of the APC planted in the State office of INEC by immediate past Governor,  Rotimi Amaechi.

Mr Okoye played major roles in the APC campaigns for President Muhammadu

Buhari and the defeated Rivers State APC Governorship Candidate,  Dakuku Peterside.

Investigations revealed that his hearsay testimony at the tribunal is part of an ongoing plot by the APC to use lies and propaganda to cast doubts over the governorship election lost by the party in Rivers State.

Investigations further revealed that he has been on the payroll of the APC as one of the compromised staff,  hence he wrote a personal report on the election,  paid for by the APC that was presented at the tribunal.

His activities on social media,  exposed his partisanship especially as regards the Presidential and Governorship elections where he campaigned vigorously for the APC.

Incidentally, when his candidate Dakuku Peterside of the APC lost to Governor Wike during the April 11 governorship election,  Charles Okoye,  the so-called INEC Staff in the Monitoring Department admitted in his Facebook Post that the election was free and fair and that the people of Rivers State have made their choice. He called on the defeated Dakuku Peterside and other Rivers people to support Governor Nyesom Wike.

In another Facebook post, Charles Okoye posted the picture of his candidate,  Dakuku Peterside,  while in another he posted the logo of the APC.  He also posted the picture of the immediate past Governor,  Rotimi Amaechi.

Posting on December 10 on Facebook, 2014, Charles Kaye Okoye wrote: “ Hon. Peterside-Yours is a March  to destiny.  Fortune is for the brave. A March to destiny...and a March to the Brick House of Rivers State. ..UP APC".

In his April 12, 2015 post on Facebook, Charles Okoye wrote: “ Rivers Guber: It was a war of wit between Amaechi and Wike and Wike triumphed.

Sad as it may seem, let's in the spirit of sportsmanship congratulate him.

Whatever game he played, he played it well. Congrats Chief Nyesom Wike".

Futile Criminal Conspiracy Against Rivers State and her people

By Simeon Nwakaudu

Each time you read a report from the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal,  look out closely for the futile attempt and ungodly conspiracy by Federal Government agencies to create the wrong impression about the governorship election on April 11.

So far, the highest echelon of the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services ( DSS ) have been involved in this show of shame. In case you still don't understand,  the dissemination of all the reports that have excluded cross examination of witnesses have been the responsibility of another Federal Government agency,  the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN ).

This is the ungodly circle of conspiracy with the mandate of a higher authority (use your tongue to count your teeth) to spread lies, falsehood, half truths and misleading information to the Nigerian Public.

These Federal Conspirators placed at the beck and call of the Rivers State APC must realise that they are funded by the people and have no reason to so obviously be partisan in a pedestrian manner.

Well meaning Nigerians should demand from the Nigerian Army and the DSS the reports they wrote on the Rivers State Governorship Election immediately after the election.  It is ridiculous that the Army and the DSS would come to the tribunal under subpoena to spread beer parlour gossip.  It is embarrassing  that the representatives of the Chief of Army Staff and that of the Director General of the DSS stressed that all testimonies they gave, they heard from third parties.  None of them witnessed any malpractice, neither did they aid the PDP to commit.

None of them had the courage to tender before the tribunal any documentary evidence in form of a report they wrote at the time the election held.

They all said that the reports that differed from their testimonies were withheld by their superiors.

As for the nollywood actor from INEC in Rivers State who was personally subpoenaed by his co-conspirators and sponsors, his credibility can only be equated to that of a roadside traitor. Here was a man who accompanied three national commissioners on brief stopovers at different local government areas, but only returned to pen down fiction which he sold to the desperate Rivers APC politicians who stole Rivers State blind.  Of course,  this unreliable witness must be smiling to the bank.

It is regrettable that the nation’s security agencies under this dispensation have been reduced to gossip centres. How on earth can the Army and DSS officials mount the witness box only to rehash what someone told them. Under cross examination,  all of them denied ever participating or seeing anyone committing electoral fraud in Rivers State on April 11.

For the avoidance of doubt,  the Rivers State APC alleged that the PDP won the election because they were aided by soldiers,  policemen,  DSS operatives and other security agencies to cart away election materials,  engage in illegal thumb printing of ballot papers and generally subvert the electioneering process.  These allegations have been firmly denied by all these security agencies while testifying at the Tribunal.  That is the crux of the matter.

Contrary to the false propaganda being circulated by NAN, the people spoke their mind. This aspect is what NAN under directive is keeping away from Nigerians.  What NAN is doing is a disservice to the nation, denying the people the right to balanced reportage,  despite being funded by the tax payers.

The truth so far is that no single serious documentary evidence has been tendered by the Rivers State APC since they commenced their charade. They have simply stuck to gossips in uniform who merely peddle hearsay like low class traders in a noisy marketplace.  So much noise and propaganda, but no substance.

Those who assist NAN to circulate falsehood and concocted half truths on the happenings at the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal must realise that propaganda has a life span.

You may wonder why we continue to draw attention to these criminal actions by some misguided security agents compelled by their superiors to jump into the arena of politics? No matter the tricks adopted by lying liars and corrupt  hypocrites, we owe the society the obligation to blow their cover.

Simeon Nwakaudu,

Special Assistant ( Media ) to the Rivers State Governor.

APC Subpoenaed INEC official says he only heard of electoral fraud, violence

Charles Okoye  the Election and Party Monitoring Department of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) in Rivers State on Friday who was subpoenaed personally by the Rivers State APC told the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal that he did not witness illegal voting and violence during the governorship election.

The Rivers State APC through the Tribunal issued a subpoena directly to Charles Okoye who appeared on Friday in his personal capacity and not as an official of  INEC.

The INEC staff who was appeared as a principal witness for the Rivers State APC told the Tribunal that he monitored the elections in eight local government areas in company of three national commissioners from INEC headquarters.

Asked under cross examination if he witnessed personally the violence he claimed whilst he was led in evidence by the APC counsel,  Okoye said he only heard of the said violence.

He also noted that he did not see anyone thumb printing in favour of the PDP,  neither did he see political thugs snatching and carting away electoral materials.

Asked if he was Testifying because INEC was subpoenaed,  Mr Okoye said that he was subpoenaed as a person.

He told the tribunal under cross examination that he wrote a personal report after monitoring the governorship election, but stated that he bypassed INEC Rivers State to submit his report to INEC headquarters.

The Rivers State APC INEC subpoenaed staff could not explain why the Rivers

State APC singled him out to help them prove their case. He, however,  claimed that it was untrue that he was drafted to help the Rivers State APC.

He admitted that the official INEC report which was written by the three national commissioners who led the monitoring of the Rivers State Governorship Election was different from his personal report.

Okoye also admitted that all the 23 Electoral Officers who conducted the governorship elections in their respective local government areas of assignment have officially recognised reports.