Wike Asked INEC To Postpone July 30 Rerun Elections – Abe

Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers South East senatorial district of Rivers State, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, has revealed that Governor Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike wrote to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) requesting the postponement of the July 30 rerun election in the state. INEC had on July 25, announced the postponement of the rerun election over security concerns, which came barely three days after its office in Bori, headquarters of Khana local government area of the state, was bombed by suspected arsonists. Abe, who spoke to newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday, accused the INEC Resident ElectoralCommissioner (REC), Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak of being subservient to Wike such that the governor wrote a letter requesting for the postponement of the election for which the commission granted without consulting other political parties.He said, “The postponement of this election was at the instance of Governor Wike. He wrote to INEC to postpone the election. If it was APC that had written a letter to postpone the election, there would have been mayhem all over, but, he wrote to postpone the electionsand the elections was postponed without consulting with us and we have not said anything.“We have not abused INEC. We have not said this because of any relationship between Wike and INEC. We held our peace and respected the power of INEC as an institution to take decisions that sometimes may not be pleasing to us but which are within their power to do so. ”The former chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), stated that INEC did not do the APC a favour in releasing the election results of Tai local government area ofthe state, rather it did the needful. Abe said that INEC righted the injustice meted to APC by the cancellation, as the election in Tai local government area was conducted, collated and returned by the returning officers, thereby making the results valid.