Sole Administrator Is Not Rivers’ Portion – Wike

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has declared that it is not the portion of Rivers people to have a sole administrator as the enemies of the state are plotting because the people overwhelmingly voted for their preferred candidate on March 9, 2019.

This was even as 86 political parties have conceded defeat to Governor Wike in the state governorship election during a solidarity visit to the governor at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

Speaking during the solidarity visit, Governor Wike said: “No matter how (it might be) delayed, Rivers State will have an elected governor.

“It is not the portion of Rivers State to have a sole administrator. Our people voted on March 9 and Rivers votes will count.”

Governor Wike said that when the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is declared the winner of the state governorship elections, he would operate a government of unity.

“If we are declared the winner of the election, we will operate a government of unity. We will rally everybody together in the interest of the state,” he said.

The governor stated that he heard that the Minister of Transportation was threatening that blood would flow in the state. He said the blood of peace-loving Rivers people would not be spilt on the account of politics.

He wondered why a candidate who told the world that he won the state governorship election would turn around to call for the cancellation of the same election.

The governor urged Rivers people to remain patient and allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to carry out its responsibilities of collation and declaration of the state governorship election result.

He said that people could manipulate, but the will of God will prevail in the state. He said the APC elders who wrote the petition against the state election could not win their respective polling units. He said whoever loves the state will not generate crisis for the state.

Earlier, the Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Rivers State, Precious Baridoo, said that from results at their disposal from their polling agents, Governor Wike had won the state governorship election.

He said: “We are also here to concede defeat to you as far as the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Rivers State is concerned. We are conceding defeat because of the polling units results available to us from our respective polling agents.

“From polling units results sent to us by our agents from the field, we acknowledge that you won the governorship election by a landslide. The people of Rivers State overwhelmingly voted for you and they have resolved that you continue to lead the state.”

IPAC Rivers State condemned the APC elders whom they said was sponsored by Amaechi to write President Muhammadu Buhari to interfere with the Rivers State governorship election.

They said: “It is for this reason that we condemn the six APC elders sponsored by the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to illegally interfere with the collation process of the Rivers State governorship election. These APC elders have no right to speak for Rivers people.

“This is especially so when our people have massively voted for you on March 9. It is abominable for any APC elder to deliberately work with the Minister of Transportation to subvert the will of Rivers people.

They warned the security agencies against taking further steps to subvert the will of Rivers people.

They said: “Going forward, we call on the security agencies to stop all further attempts aimed at subverting the will of Rivers people. We urge the security agencies to remove themselves from the democratic processes of Rivers State and restrict themselves to their constitutional roles.

“We are aware of the persistent plots by the security agencies to thwart the collation and declaration processes of the Rivers State governorship election already won by Your Excellency, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike. We urge the relevant authorities to take immediate steps to call these security agencies to order because under no circumstances shall we allow them to manipulate the mandate of Rivers people.”

They urged INEC to follow through with their collation and declaration of the Rivers State governorship election results. While congratulating Governor Wike, they stated that they would participate in his victory party.

Other party leaders also declared their solidarity for Governor Wike, whom they acknowledged won the March 9 elections.