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The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to annul the Rivers State governorship election by instigating a constitution crisis in the state.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who made the allegation at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, said some leaders of the ruling party, with Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi are allegedly working with the Minister of Justice and Attorney General (AGF), Abubakar Malami, to mount pressure on the Supreme Court to revisit its judgment on the Rivers APC nomination crisis.
Ologbondiyan alleged that the plot is to nullify the governorship, national and state assemblies elections in Rivers State and pave way for new polls, in which the APC would be allowed to participate.
He noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), acting on the judgment of the Supreme Court on the Rivers APC nomination crisis, had excluded the party’s candidates from the National Assembly, governorship and state assembly polls in the state.
The opposition spokesman said in the aftermath of the March 9 governorship contest, which the PDP candidate, Nyesom Wike, won, a leader of the APC has allegedly been going round the state, boasting that the apex court will reverse itself on the Rivers APC nomination crisis.
He said: “The PDP has been informed of how these desperate APC figures and their agents have been mounting pressure on the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Mohammed, to reverse the February 12, 2019 final judgment of the Supreme Court, which upheld the verdict of the trial court that lawfully excluded the APC from participating in the National Assembly, governorship and state assembly elections in Rivers State, having nullified the party’s flawed primaries in the state.
“Nigerians can recall that in nullifying the APC primaries and barring the party from fielding candidates in Rivers State for the general election, the High Court held, and rightly too, that APC’s primaries in the state were invalid and cannot be considered.
“Acting upon the final judgment of the Supreme Court, the INEC, on February 23, held the presidential/national assembly elections, and on March 9, conducted the governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Rivers State, in which the APC, having been lawfully excluded, did not participate.
“In the course of the elections, the APC, however, adopted the governorship candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), bankrolled his election and made compromised security agents and thugs available to him, with the view to using them to muscle votes.
“In spite of these conspiracies by the APC, the will of the people of Rivers State prevailed, as they braved the odds, resisted all machinations and voted overwhelmingly for the PDP and all its candidates.”
Ologbondiyan appealed to the acting CJN, Mohammed, not to allow himself be used by desperate politicians in the ruling party to cause anarchy in Rivers State.
“The Supreme Court is the highest temple of justice in our country and, as such, must protect itself from all forms of manipulative tendencies of the APC,” he said.
