…Says I never congratulated Rivers Gov-Elect

By Egufe Yafugborhi

SENATOR Magnus Abe, governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 18 March elections in Rivers State has expressed disappointment in security agencies over their indifference to the killings and alleged electoral frauds that characterised the exercise.

Despite widespread outcry, with video evidences in some of the cases, that at least six persons were murdered in pockets of violence that characterised the elections in Rivers, the Police Command in the state has maintained ignorance of any fatality over the exercise.

Abe in his first post elections appraisal in Port Harcourt Wednesday also dismissed reports that he has congratulated Siminialayi Fubara, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on his emergence as Rivers governor elect.

The Senator who represented Rivers South East District between 2011 and 2019 said, “Across the state, people were visibly disenfranchised. All the signs that there will be no democratic process or practice were evident even before the elections. Intimidation, harasments, state sponsored violence continued all through the campaigns culminating in the elections.”

He said traditional rulers, thugs and militants across Rivers were mobilised to threaten the populace that those who won’t vote PDP must not come out to vote, inducing voter apathy which reduced non indigenes participation to near zero in his estimation.

He added, “Those who defied the warning were beaten mercilessly under police watch. The level of violence, brutality visited on the SDP in the state is unprecedented. In Ahoada East LGA, four persons were killed, two of them members of the SDP who resisted people who came to cart away ballot boxes and BVAS machines.

“They were summarily executed. As we speak, nobody was arrested, even when those who shot them were known and all these happened in presence of security agencies. Nobody was arrested. Videos of council chairmen carting away election materials were all over the place, nobody arrested, but SDP members are the ones who got arrested.

“I’ve seen document circulating that I congratulated congratulated the winner (Rivers Governor-Elect). Certain things do not deserve response. Everybody in Rivers saw and knows what happened here. I will consult our team, look at the situation holistically and decide our next step.”

Abe asked the police in Rivers, “If murderers did not commit electoral offenses, if thugs who hijacked electoral materials did not commit electoral offenses, if all these characters did nothing wrong, why is it SDP agents accused of wearing wrong tags who will be suspects to be prosecuted.?”

Thanking SDP faithful in Rivers state and supporters of his governorship bid in the March 18 elections, Abe called for calm and tolerance among Rivers populace, urging that violence cannot correct violence and keeping faith in the Nigerian electoral process and the judiciary to correct the irregularities in the elections as held across Nigeria, particularly in Rivers.