I don’t trust INEC with electoral data, says Wike

The governor of Rivers State, Nyesome Wike has stated that he and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) do not trust the Independent National Independent Commission (INEC) to keep data and materials from the last elections safe.

He stated that because he and his party does not trust the electoral umpire or opposition parties, he had taken the liberty to save data from the elections in a flash drive which he displayed.

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He spoke during an interview with journalists in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and on Tuesday.

Speaking on the arrest of some lawyers of opposition parties in the state in relation to allegations of fraud, the governor stated that the arrests were in order, and that it was left to the police to investigate and establish whether or not a crime was committed.

Governor Wike opened up on the arrest of lawyers representing the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the aftermath of the governorship elections.

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the March 18 election in Rivers State, Mr Tonye Cole, had alleged that police personnel working for Governor Wike arrested the party’s lawyers filing evidence for the election tribunal.

But the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Okon Effiong, denied that his men detained the three APC Lawyers filing petition ahead of the election tribunal.

Speaking to journalists, after meeting with the police administrators at the SCID, Cole stated that the arrest of the lawyers preparing a petition ahead of the election in the state, was a traumatic experience for Nigeria’s democratic process.

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He said almost two days after the arrest, the police allegedly delayed release of the sensitive materials and other personal documents seized from the lawyers as presented by the party’s agents.

“It has been a very traumatic process for our democratic process. It started with the arrest of our lawyers that are preparing for the tribunal. All evidence, their draft and written space was seized. That was too dangerous, leaving those things in the hands of unknown persons, because that carries the base of our case and so we have to start putting pressure on the police,” Cole alleged.

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However, Wike, during the interview on Tuesday, said the police only did their job.

“There is nothing wrong if you have intelligence that people are producing INEC documents in a hotel,” Wike said.

“INEC documents in a hotel? That is wrong. And the police arrested them. What is expected is that police should investigate them. Were they really printing INEC documents or not?”

Governor Wike added: “In their usual propaganda, they (the APC) said on TV that their lawyers were arrested while preparing election petitions. When lawyers perpetrate a crime, can’t they be arrested?”