APC Sweeps Rivers' Rerun Polls as Magnus Abe Emerges Winner

Candidates of the All Progressives Con­gress (APC) have been declared winners by the Independent National Elec­toral Commission (INEC) in the crisis-ridden Satur­day’s rerun elections in Riv­ers State.
In the Rivers South East Senatorial District election, Senator Magnus Abe was on Sunday returned the winner of the poll by INEC.
The Returning Officer for Rivers South East Senatori­al District, Prof. Onukwu­si Gideon, who announced the result, said Senator Abe scored 125,938 votes to beat his closest rival, Olaka Nwogu, of the Peoples’ Dem­ocratic Party (PDP), who scored 25,394 votes.

 According to Prof. Gideon, Kingsley Onyek­were Okechukwu of the Labour Party (LP) scored 549 votes while Comrade Oke Ude of NNPP scored 96 votes, and the candidate of UDP, Mr. Efrida got 99 votes.
He said that of the 154,703 votes cast, 152,076 were valid while 2,627 were invalid.
Also, the APC candidate for Khana/Gokana Federal Constit­uency, Maurice Pronem, won the election with 68,219 votes to beat the PDP candidate who scored 20,329.
Announcing the results yes­terday, the Returning Officer, Prof. G. G. Osuagwu, said that the candidate of the Independ­ent Democrats scored 52 votes while that of LP also received 52 votes.
He said that of the 91,533 votes cast, 90,485 votes were valid while 1,048 votes were re­jected.
The situation was not differ­ent Tai/Oyigbo/Eleme Federal Constituency where Dr. Barry Mpigi of the APC won the elec­tion. He got 48,760 votes while the PDP candidate came second with 11,737 votes.
Also, Hon. Friday Nkeeh of the APC was declared winner of Rivers State House of Assembly seat for Khana Constituency 2. He polled 15,000 votes to defeat his closest rival, Dinebari Loo­lo of the PDP who scored 4,000 votes.
Dr Innocent Barikor of APC was also declared winner of the Gokhana state constituency af­ter polling 24,624 votes.
In a reaction to the results, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose described the elections as a sad reminder of the level of destruction done to the coun­try’s electoral process by the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Fayose said: “Free, fair and credible election is dead in the country and that whatever victo­ry that is recorded by any politi­cal party in the Rivers State elec­tion will be nothing but victory at gunpoint.”
The governor lamented that the legacy of free, fair and credi­ble election left by the PDP had been destroyed less than two years that the APC assumed of­fice, saying; “We thought that we have gone past this era of manipulated electoral process­es after the 2015 general elec­tions, which brought the APC and President Buhari to power; but Buhari’s administration has taken us back to the stone age by merging his party, APC with INEC, the police, military and other security agencies.”
In a press release issued on Sunday through his Special As­sistant on Public Communi­cations and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said that with what was witnessed in Riv­ers State on Saturday, “it is clear that Nigeria is under siege and only prompt intervention by the international community can save democracy in the country from this imminent collapse.”
Meanwhile, 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, with head­quarters in Port Harcourt, has denied any involvement in the re-run election.
In a statement by the Gener­al Officer Commanding the Di­vision, Major-General Kasimu Abdulkarim, the Army said that the alleged killing and mass ar­rest by soldiers in Tai, Ogoni, Gokhana-Ogoni Local Gov­ernment Areas were false.
He said: “It is true that sol­diers of 6 Division Nigerian Army provided security during the Rivers State Legislative Re-run Election that was conducted on Saturday. In addition, the al­legations made by some respect­ed politicians regarding deep involvement of soldiers during the elections were aimed at tar­nishing the positive image of the Army.”
According to him, the poli­ticians accused soldiers of ballot box-snatching, illegal escort of some politicians, arrest and de­tention of voters during the con­duct of the elections.
“The weighty nature of these allegations could cause mem­bers of the public to view sol­diers negatively, hence the need to adequately inform the pub­lic on the true perspective. The public thus needs to consider them as mere farce to garner public sympathy.”
 He said that troops acted swiftly in response to securi­ty breaches in order to enforce the law, provide aid to the Ni­geria Police and other securi­ty agencies, especially in Abo­nema, Etche, Gokhana, Ikwere, Eleme, Tai, Khana and Omoku.
Gen. Abdulkarim said that there were three explosions and abduction of 11 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) along with elec­toral materials, adding that 10 of them were rescued two hours later by soldiers while one was rescued about eight hours later.
At Emouha, General Ab­dulkarim, said one Mr. Oble­waremu abducted five NYSC members with election mate­rials in a Siena bus. He said the corps members were rescued while the suspect was handed over to the Police.
“Several shootings were re­corded in some communities such as Bodo, the home town of the Secretary to the State Government, B-dere and Mog­ho in Gokhana LGA, including snatching of ballot boxes. The most brutal incident occurred at Ujju Community near Omoku in Onelga where a police patrol team was ambushed. In the am­bush, 10 policemen scampered into the bush,” he said
The General Officer Com­manding revealed that the Mo­bile Police organised a rescue mission. But regrettably, the team discovered that DSP Al­kali Mohammed of Mobile Po­lice Unit 48 was beheaded along with his Orderly. The patrol ve­hicle was taken away with weap­ons, three policemen escaped while five were missing in ac­tion.
Unconfirmed report claimed that thousands of Ik­werre on Sunday besieged INEC headquarters in Isiokpo, the headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area, after a serv­ing minister from the area, ac­companied by over 200 soldiers, and an armoured personnel car­rier, invaded the Local Govern­ment Collation Centre.
The soldiers, who were joined by an unnamed com­missioner of police in-charge of elections in the area, allegedly drove away both electronic and print media journalists, agents of political parties and observers at the scene.
According to the report, the commissioner of police alleged­ly beat up the Caretaker Com­mittee Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, before drag­ging him on the floor.
He said that troops acted swiftly in response to securi­ty breaches in order to enforce the law, provide aid to the Ni­geria Police and other securi­ty agencies, especially in Abo­nema, Etche, Gokhana, Ikwere, Eleme, Tai, Khana and Omoku.
Gen. Abdulkarim said that there were three explosions and abduction of 11 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) along with elec­toral materials, adding that 10 of them were rescued two hours later by soldiers while one was rescued about eight hours later.
At Emouha, General Ab­dulkarim, said one Mr. Oble­waremu abducted five NYSC members with election mate­rials in a Siena bus. He said the corps members were rescued while the suspect was handed over to the Police.
“Several shootings were re­corded in some communities such as Bodo, the home town of the Secretary to the State Government, B-dere and Mog­ho in Gokhana LGA, including snatching of ballot boxes. The most brutal incident occurred at Ujju Community near Omoku in Onelga where a police patrol team was ambushed. In the am­bush, 10 policemen scampered into the bush,” he said
The General Officer Com­manding revealed that the Mo­bile Police organised a rescue mission. But regrettably, the team discovered that DSP Al­kali Mohammed of Mobile Po­lice Unit 48 was beheaded along with his Orderly. The patrol ve­hicle was taken away with weap­ons, three policemen escaped while five were missing in ac­tion.
Unconfirmed report claimed that thousands of Ik­werre on Sunday besieged INEC headquarters in Isiokpo, the headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area, after a serv­ing minister from the area, ac­companied by over 200 soldiers, and an armoured personnel car­rier, invaded the Local Govern­ment Collation Centre.
The soldiers, who were joined by an unnamed com­missioner of police in-charge of elections in the area, allegedly drove away both electronic and print media journalists, agents of political parties and observers at the scene.
According to the report, the commissioner of police alleged­ly beat up the Caretaker Com­mittee Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, before drag­ging him on the floor.