Protest rocks INEC office in Rivers over election results

On Monday, members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State staged a protest at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

They were demanding a joint inspection of the Certified True Copies (CTC) of result sheets used in the February 25 and March 18 elections in Rivers State for the party’s tribunal cases.

The demonstration, which was led by the Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, who was re-elected in the March 18 election, and Samuel Nwanosike, the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA), caused heavy traffic at the GRA Junction and Waterlines Junction axis of the Port Harcourt-Aba expressway.

The PDP members accused INEC of conniving with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the elections in the state. They also alleged that some INEC officials compromised the integrity of the electoral process by colluding with the APC to manipulate the results in favor of the party.

The protesters argued that a joint inspection of the CTCs of the result sheets used in the elections would help to uncover any irregularities and restore the credibility of the electoral process in Rivers State.

Reacting to the protest, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Obo Effanga, urged the PDP members to channel their grievances through the appropriate legal channels.

Effanga explained that the commission had already made the CTCs of the result sheets available to all political parties in the state for their tribunal cases. He added that the commission was committed to ensuring a free, fair, and credible electoral process in the state.

The protest is coming on the heels of the ongoing tribunal cases involving the PDP and APC in Rivers State. The PDP had won the governorship election in the state, but the APC is challenging the results at the tribunal.

The PDP had also won most of the seats in the state House of Assembly, but the APC is contesting the results in some constituencies.