The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has accused the All Progressives Congress of pushing for another postponement of the Rivers legislative rerun fixed for October 2016.
The state PDP said it had been alerted that there was a plan by the leadership of the APC, in conjunction with some top officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, to shift the rerun.
It explained that there were indications that those behind the plot would allege insecurity in the state and logistic problems on the part of INEC as reasons for the postponement.
The party expressed worry and disappointment over the development, describing it as retrogressive, even as it maintained that such plans did not come to it as a shock.
Chairman of the PDP in Rivers State, Chief Felix Obuah, said in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Jerry Needam, that one of the plans by the APC was to sustain blackmail against government actions on issues concerning security.
“Right from the outset, the APC has never shown any readiness to genuinely participate in a free, fair and peaceful election in the state, obviously for fear of losing in the electoral contest,” Obuah said.
The state PDP chairman criticised the APC’s push for another postponement, saying there was no justification for doing so.
Reacting, the River State APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ikanya, described the statement credited to the state PDP as mischievous and added that the APC did not have the power to fix election dates.
“The APC is not INEC that has the sole power to fix the dates for elections in Nigeria. We are not members of any security organ in Nigeria that would determine if it is okay to hold any election in a Governor Nyesom Wike and PDP-influenced volatile environment like River State,” the APC said.
