Those who followed developments before the last general elections knew that Rivers State was PDP and no level of propaganda, intimidation and under-the-table tactics would change this reality. Therefore, the results of the Presidential /National Assembly election of March 28 and the Governorship /House of Assembly election of April 11 only confirmed public knowledge.
The APC in Rivers State was decimated and its electoral value for the election ganged raped by the unprecedented corruption of former governor Rotimi Amaechi, his unimaginable treachery of the Niger Delta agenda and Amaechi’s lack of respect for his benefactors and other Rivers leaders.
Amaechi himself rarely campaigned for the APC in Rivers State. He breezed in and out of the Presidential campaigns whilst Governor Wike engaged in ward to ward campaigns across the 23 Local Government Areas. The other level of PDP leadership covered the 4442 polling units communities in the state. This was how PDP was able to win overwhelmingly in Rivers State.
That Amaechi had to engage media marabouts and propaganda merchants to sell cheap lies about the Rivers State elections remains the most uncharitable political action of this era.
The Rivers State Tribunals that sat in Abuja have rolled out their judgments. The National and State Houses of Assembly Tribunals in Abuja upheld the elections of Senators George Sekibo, PDP, Rivers East Senatorial District, Olaka Nwogu of Rivers South-East Senatorial District and Osinakachukwu Ideozu of Rivers West Senatorial District. The Tribunals also upheld the election of Mrs Blessing Nsiegbe, member of House of Representatives (PDP ), Port Harcourt Federal Constituency, Bright Gogo, Okirika/Ogu / Bolo Federal Constituency, Jerome Eke, Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency, Kingsley Chinda, Obio / Akpor Federal Constituency and Mr Boniface Emerengwa ( PDP ), elected member of the House of Representatives for Ikwere/Emohua Federal Constituency.
The Tribunals also upheld the elections of Ken Chikere of Port Harcourt 1 Federal Constituency, Jacobson Mbina of Tai /Oyigbo Federal Constituency, Mrs Betty Apiafi, Abua /Odual /Ahoada East Federal Constituency, Dum Dekor, Khana /Gokana Federal Constituency, Awaji Abiante, Andoni /Opobo /Nkoro Federal Constituency and Prince Nnam Obi of Ogba/Egbema /Ndoni /Ahoada West Federal Constituency.
These elections were upheld based on merit, not strictly on technical grounds. The Tribunals held that the Petitioners failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the numerous allegations they made against the victors of the March 28, 2015 National Assembly election.
According to the tribunal, the Petitioners failed to call Witnesses for all the respective polling units where they made criminal allegations of election malpractices to prove same. Even where they invited witnesses, they invited witnesses of falsehood. One of such false gossips was one Charles Okoye, whose statement of oath was unreliable . It was the same Okoye that Former INEC National Commissioner, Dr Christopher Iyimoga declared as a mere travel guide who had no locus to speak on behalf of INEC. Okoye move from one case to another under the payroll of Rivers State APC.
Furthermore, the tribunal ruled that the witnesses that Rivers State APC Petitioners subpoenaed amounted to amending their petitions midstream. This is tantamount to changing the goal post in the middle of a football match.
The Tribunals in dismissing all the Rivers State APC National Assembly petitions said their failure to call voters as witnesses was fatal to their respective cases.
Needless to say that the Rivers State APC National Assembly candidates failed to prove the criminal allegations beyond reasonable doubt.
With all three Senatorial Districts and a total of eleven Federal Constituencies in the kitty both at the general elections and via the Judicial process, Nigerians living outside Rivers State can begin to fully appreciate the political dynamics of Rivers State.
A simple content analysis of supporters of Rotimi Amaechi and his political godson, Dakuku Peterside reveals that they are mainly indigenes of the far north and the south west. They are people pretty ignorant of the political realities of Rivers State. Their political postulations are based on false hearsay reports and propaganda sponsored by the Rivers State APC.
Amaechi and his Rivers State APC colleagues have no supporters on ground. It is impossible how Former Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his political godson, Dakuku Peterside expected to win elections in Rivers State through the use of foreign Facebook and Twitter supporters who insult the intelligence of the people of the state.
The political reality of Rivers State is PDP. PDP in this case is personified by Governor Wike, the apostle of ‘Talk Na Do ‘, political philosophy which is clearing the ugly mess left behind by the defeated Rivers State APC leadership.
A party that deliberately destroyed the economy, governance structure and psyche of the people can never be victorious in the Rivers State political terrain. The reward for their treachery and ugly theft of Rivers State resources is in the plate of tainted porridge they have been offered by the APC National.
The people of Rivers State have taken their destiny in their own hands. Never again will Rivers State resources be used to fund the political interests of distant lands and fan the economic ambitions of other communities while the owners of the same resources mourn in poverty.
Five months of Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and all the elected representatives at the National and State Houses of Assembly have redefined the process of development and governance in Rivers State. The State has been deleted from the channels of unending negative reports with reports of execution of development projects taking the centre stage.
Like Governor Wike assured at different times, his doors and that of the PDP remain open to the remaining few APC members trooping back to help in clearing the mess left by the immediate past failed administration of the APC in Rivers State.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
