[dropcap]P[/dropcap]rior to the March 19, 2016, court ordered rerun in Rivers State, the resident electoral commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Rivers, Gesila Khan, who supervised over the widely acknowledged free, fair, and credible 2015 general elections in the state, was blackmailed by the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Mrs. Khan was labelled biased, compromised, and politically exposed by the APC. The heat generated by the party, which was to justify its bid to subvert the will of Rivers people during the court ordered rerun, eventually led to her redeployment from Rivers State. In her place, a certain Aniedi Ikoiwak was recruited by the APC-controlled INEC.
The court ordered #RiversRerun came and went. The people of the state stood their grounds against the subversion of their will and the APC recruit, Mr. Ikoiwak, could not but be moderated by the prevailing will of the people and the obvious ethos of democracy.
What else could the INEC REC have done when he had been told by Rivers people to write his will before coming to rig elections in the state? Ikoiwak, and a thousand more of him, can do nothing else but the right things in a politically conscious society as ours in Rivers State.
Unfortunately, for not sacrificing his life for the APC that recruited him, Aniedi Ikoiwak is being blackmailed by no one less than a sound mind and presumed statesman, a former state legislator, a former secretary to state government and former and still aspiring senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Magnus Abe.
What our brother, friend and elder, Senator Magnus Abe has not told us, are the unpardonable offences of Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak their very recruit. What are the allegations? How did they lead to a breach of his official duties? How did Aniedi Ikoiwak compromise elections in Rivers State, which itself arose by the judicial subversion of the will of our people? Why is he not being charged for any known offences?
Senator Abe said he doesn’t care if the relative of Governor Nyesom Wike is made the REC as long as he does the right thing. So what wrong did Ikoiwak, the APC recruit, do and what right did he refuse to do?
Is the right thing, in the estimation of the APC, to subvert the will of Rivers people; to write fake results and declare unpopular and unwanted candidates as winners?
If that is the assignment, the APC must come clean on it and help whomever is so assigned write his will, first, before embarking on the exercise. Nothing else would suffice as votes are not just sacred, they count in Rivers State.
Oraye St. Franklyn is a barrister-at-law. He is senior special assistant to Governor Nyesom Wike on Social Media. He is a strategic communicator and good governance advocate, writes from Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He tweets from @RealOraye. He is also on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
