…Alerts police on threats to life of Rivers State Collation Officer on presidential election

…Obi leads in Rivers with 2 LGAs results to go

…State CO cries out over threats to life from LP

By Egufe Yafugborhi

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended Saturday’s elections for the Senate and Port Harcourt Federal Constituency II in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area (PHALGA) in Rivers State.

INEC Resident Electoral Officer (REC) in Rivers, Johnson Sinikiem, announced the suspension Tuesday, bowing to pressure from agents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) who failed to bend the PHALGA Collation Officer, Prof Victoria, with threats to her life, to outrightly cancel all National Assembly elections held Saturday in PHALGA.

The protests and pressures on the INEC Rivers REC had become fearsome after the Collation Officer for PHALGA had declared the PHALGA Federal Constituency 1 election won by candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

The REC, Sinikiem at the State Collation Center in Port Harcourt, yesterday declared, “INEC Rivers has suspended PHALGA II House of Representative and PHALGA Senate Elections for alleged irregularities. The Commission will conduct thorough investigation before further action will be
taken.”

INEC, he further noted, “has been notified of threat to life of the State Collation Officer for the Presidential Election in Rivers, Prof Teddy Charles Adias, Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Otueke.

“I urge the public and our critical stakeholders to know that the function of a State Collation Officer is just to collate results of elections conducted at the various Local Government Areas of the State.

“He is not a Supervising Presiding Officer nor a Presiding Officer that conducts elections at the polling units. He is only collating results already collated at the Local Government Area level that
cannot be changed except by the verdict of an Election Tribunal.

“We urge those concerned to seize forthwith in unleashing threats because his job does not involve accreditation, voting, counting, computation, validation etc ..of votes by parties at primary and Secondary levels.

“I draw attention of Security Agencies, especially the Election Commissioner of Police for Rivers State that is equally Co Chairman of Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to this attempt to truncate the Collation of Presidential Election result in Rivers State.”

Obi leads in Rivers with 2 LGAs results to go

Meanwhile, Obi who has won only five of the 21 LGAs so far collated, is polling a total of 170,052 with Bola Tinubu of APC who has won 13 LGAs polling 148,977 votes. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abunakar with wins in three LGAs controlled by his men is placed third on the presidential table for Rivers with
83966 votes.

Obi’s overwhelming votes with win in just five LGAs so far came from Port Harcourt City LGA, Rivers LGA second highest voters population where the LP candidate raked 62451 votes against APC’s 5562 votes.

Results for Degema and highest polling Obio/Akpor LGAs are the only ones left to determine who won Rivers in the 2023 presidential elections.

Prof Adias fears for own life, family’s

Prof Adias had Tuesday morning declared collation of the presidential election results in Rivers suspended over a barrage of threat to the his life and that of his family from persons claiming to be LP members.

At the State Collation Center in the Port Harcourt office of INEC Rivers, Prof Adias refused appeals from stakeholders including assurances from the police for him conclude the process.

He told stakeholders, “I use this medium to draw attention of the public to barrages of calls and texts from members of the public and from various walks of life, supposed party faithfuls inclusive. These messages range from those calling me to order, to those outrightly threatening my life and members of my family.

“These range from me being the mastermind of rigging all elections in Rivers State or intending to rig election in the state. I am constrained to observe that the threat to my life and members of my family mainly by stakeholders of a particular political party (LP he pin pionted the day before) however, could be results of misinformation or ignorance about the scope of responsibility and liabilities of staff that are Ad Hoc to duty to this commission.

“When there are crisis in polling units, the attack is on my phone and myself that I am responsible. And BVAS fails to function the attack is equally on my phone that I am responsible. In fact I am responsible for the code error and malfunctioning of BVAS.

“What you see on social media that has been circulating is that I have been procured to come in here as returning officer for INEC for the purpose of rigging election in favour of particular political party.

“That is not my scope here. My scope is that of state collation officer for the purpose of presidential election. I do not have any responsibility to order elections. At the level that we sit here we only sit here to receive reports. We do not even collate reports of what I am not even aware.

“For avoidance of doubt my role as state collation officers of Rivers state in the presidential election is related to merely receiving reports in which you can get testimony right in itself. I’m not privy to any fact or figures emanating from conduct of election as presented here.

“I am not involved in the process of collation of results and announcement of result that would have taken place right in the LGAs before arrival here. I am not involved in accreditation, voting, counting, computation nor validation of votes acrueable to any political party.

“By this address, I alert security agencies indeed the public on the threat to my life and to request every necessary protection to enable me to leave and carry out my duties and obligation.

“I believe that if the INEC is able to address this misinformation we can reconsider and reconvene. But for now, collation is hereby adjourned.

“I adjourn collation of this presidential election for Rivers State to enable INEC to address the foregoing and put my roles and scope in Rivers State into perspective in the public. Collations will be adjourned until INEC, represented by the REC, address the issues.”