• IPAC berates APC’s planned boycott
Tony John, Port Harcourt
Sixty two political parties have declared their readiness for the forthcoming Rivers State local government election, scheduled for tomorrow.
This was even as the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella body of the political parties, said the planned boycott of the poll by the All Progressives Congress (APC) was evidence of APC’s unpopularity in the state.
Some of the political parties preparing for the Saturday’s election are Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), Accord Party (AC), Action Peoples Party (APP), National Action Council ((NAC) and Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD).
Briefing newsmen yesterday, in Port Harcourt, IPAC Chairman, Pastor Sam Ihunwo, described APC’s decision as unfortunate and ill-considered, accusing the party of abhorring inter-party cooperation.
“We, at IPAC, place on record that the unfortunate decision of the APC is in consonance with the character of the party in Rivers state, that abhors inter-party cooperation, democratic procedures and principles in preference for propaganda, falsehood and distortion of facts,” he said.
Ihunwo, who is also chairman of Independent Democrats (ID), said: “The only pain we see is the fact that the APC is afraid that it is a rejected and unpopular political party in Rivers state.
“Their withdrawal from the election is a propaganda gimmick to hide their unpopularity. It is part of their propaganda from the deep pits of hell reminiscent of the time they falsely announced to the whole world that the National Industrial Court sitting in Yenagoa had restored the annulled election and asked for police security to take them to the local governments in Rivers state.
“We inform the whole world that all the other political parties in Rivers state are happy with the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC ) for putting the machinery in place to conduct free, fair and genuine local government election on Saturday,” the IPAC chairman said.