The governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, on Thursday, November 15 declared that the nation’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the capacity to conduct credible polls in 2019.
Wike asked Nigerians not to be deceived by the statements usually released by INEC because the commission works negate her mandate.
Governor Wike stated this at the Government House, Port Harcourt, when he played host to the Senate Committee on INEC.
A statement released by Simon Nwakaudu, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Electronic Media, quoted Wike as saying:
“Let’s not deceive ourselves, INEC is not prepared for credible elections.
“If there is an agency that is not prepared for 2019, it is INEC. I have no confidence in INEC. There is no amount of INEC’s preparation that will convince me.
“INEC chooses how it interprets laws to suit those they support. They choose the court orders to obey and the ones to disregard. In one state where it favours a particular, they obey.
“In another state, INEC will claim they are yet to see judgments not in favour of the party they support.
According to the governor, in 2019, any attempt by INEC to negatively manipulate the will of the people will be resisted.
“In 2019, whoever wants to manipulate the process to destroy the outcome, the people will come after that person and the family.
“We will not agree that for anybody to rig elections here in Rivers State. Nobody will do anything contrary to the will of the people,” he said adding that results are declared at the polling units, but INEC goes ahead to manipulate results at the collation centre as was done in Osun state.
Wike further noted that the National Assembly had budgeted money for INEC to squander, but not for the conduct of credible elections.
He claimed that the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amended electoral act is a ploy by the APC federal government to rig the 2019 elections in connivance with INEC.
The governor further stated that INEC and the police are two institutions that impede the conduct of credible elections in the country.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif, said the committee was in the state to assess the preparedness of the commission for the conduct of the 2019 general elections.
