– Governor Nyesome Wike has said that Nigeria’s democracy is under threat
– The governor fingered the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigeria Police as derailing democracy
– He accused INEC and the police of colluding with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to stiffle opposition
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has raised the alarm that the country’s democracy is under threat, The Guardian reports.
He spoke when the Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Paul Lehmann visited him at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday, August 29.
Wike alleged that the police, the APC and the INEC were planning to rig the upcoming general elections in 2019.
Governor Wike called on the international community to help resuce Nigeria’s democracy. Photo credit: Government House, Port Harcourt
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The governor pleaded with the international community to intervene, stressing that the actions of the ruling party, INEC and the police portend grave danger for the country’s democracy.
He said that that the latest rigging system wherein the APC used the police to forge electoral results, in collusion with the INEC would no longer be allowed in Rivers state.
“We are happy that we have been vindicated by the fact that INEC printed their own result sheets with their serial numbers, which other people also printed with the same serial numbers. The question is, how did they know the serial numbers?” he queried.
He stated that George Thompson Sekibo was removed as the duly elected senator from Rivers East Senatorial District on the grounds of the certified results tendered by the police at the tribunal.
The governor however urged Australian investors to take advantage of the right business climate to invest in the state’s agricultural sector, even as he promised to give them tax holidays.
Meanwhile, the New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGP) has accused the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party of setting machinery in place to systematically rig the 2019 elections in their favour.
NGP’s allegation is coming on the heels of the meeting held between President Muhammadu Buhari and the the leadership of the APC and PDP held last week at the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, August 27, the national chairman of the NGP, Dr Yakubu Shendam, described the meeting as a secret and desperate attempt to derail democracy in the country, even as he appealed to well meaning Nigerians, political parties and the international community to stand against the undemocratic move.
READ ALSO: 6 APC leaders who may replace Buhari in 2019
In the interview below with ZENITHBLOG.com TV, APC chieftain, Comrade Timi Frank warns the party to resolve its internal bickering before 2019:
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