From CHRIS ANUCHA, MOLLY KILITE, Port Harcourt
THERE was a shouting match yesterday in Port Harcourt between former Rivers governor and Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Nyesom Wike and hordes of their supporters as the results of the rerun state and national assembly polls trickled in. Security agents had to stretch themselves to the limit to avert a bloody confrontation.
The incident which occurred at the Mile One Divisional Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt was sparked by alleged abduction of a collation officer and a plot to hijack the result sheet of Ward 10, Port Harcourt Constituency II.
Problem reportedly started when the Collation Officer whose name was given as Mrs. Adebisa Ekwi allegedly disappeared from her duty post. When efforts to locate her whereabouts failed, she was declared abducted. But she later appeared at the Mile One police station.
Shortly after, Amaechi appeared in company of Dakuku Peterside, director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Safety Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Davis Ikanya; Ibim Semenitari, acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and a host of All Progressives Congress supporters.
Governor Wike also came to the station with some and some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) men and the sides engaged in a shouting match which almost resulted in a free for all.
Daily Sun gathered that it was pressure from some quarters and threat to her life that forced her to run to the police for safety.
Mrs. Adebisa was later handed over to officials of the Department of Security Service (DSS).
Meanwhile, there have been trading of allegations and counter-allegations between supporters of the APC and PDP over what transpired at the police station.
While PDP members claimed they were attracted to the police station by reports that Amaechi and his team were there, APC members claimed it was Wike’s visit that prompted them to go there.
For instance, Governor Wike’s Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Mr. Simeo Nwakaudu, in a press statement yesterday described the disappearance of Mrs. Adebisa as abduction.
According to him, the ‘abduction’ led to the suspension of collation of results in the Constituency.
He alleged that she was first taken to Novotel Hotel where Amaechi and Peterside were lodging, adding that it was there that they doctored the result.
“PDP leaders, including Governor Wike got wind of the fact that she had been placed on protective custody at the Mile 1 police station and visited the station for explanation. Immediately Governor Wike and PDP leaders arrived the station, more than 400 soldiers stormed the station, alongside Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the NIMASA Director General, Dakuku Peterside arrived the station and directed that Mrs. Ekwi Adebisa be released to them.”
However, Semenitari punctured Nwakaudu’s claim. The former Rivers commissioner for information who spoke to reporters in Port Harcourt said on the contrary, it was Wike’s visit that prompted Amaechi’s presence at the Mile 1 police station.
According to her, PDP intimidated the Collation Officer and wanted to rewrite Ward 10 result. She said it was the intimidation and threats that forced the Collation Officer to flee to the police station.
She condemned the walleged attempt by PDP to rewrite the result of Port Harcourt Local Government1 2 result.
Reacting, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 6, Calabar, Adisa Bolanta, who spoke to Daily Sun said: “Yes, I was there and I was able to douse the situation. What really happened was that the woman was supposed to be one of the collation officers and when it was time for collation yesterday, she was nowhere to be found only for her to appear in the morning. So, when people now saw her, they started agitating that perhaps, she may have been compromised. I think she ran and hid somewhere before police rescued her. And you know all these political gladiators, they heard about it (her presence in the police station). The governor went there, former governor Amaechi came, Peterside was there and so the place became rowdy. They called me and I had to go there and persuade everybody to allow the police look into the case.
“I brought the woman to my office and we listened to her. I later handed her over to the CID for investigation. Mile one police station was where she was taken to and the collation centre is mile one collating center.”
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday announced the suspension of the rerun legislative elections in two more local government areas bring the number to eight.
Aneidi Ikoiwak, resident electoral commissioner for the state, told journalists in Port Harcourt that the elections were suspended due to irregularities and violence.
On Saturday, INEC had suspended election in six of the 23 local government areas over widespread violence.
INEC conducted elections in 22 of the 32 state house of assembly seats, 12 of the 13 house of representatives seats and three senatorial districts.
Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, the APC candidate in the Rivers South East Senatorial District has called on law enforcement agents to investigate the attitude of Kenneth Kobani and other PDP leaders in Gokana Local Government Area, who he alleged used armed youths to disrupt the distribution of electoral materials to the various polling units in the area.
However, Governor Wike has declared that the results showed clearly who is on ground and who is accepted by the people.
He said the elections have proved that the control of INEC, federal might, military, police and other security agencies cannot translate to electoral victories as the people will always resist agents of rigging.
In an interactive session with newsmen on Sunday, Governor Wike said that most military men deployed for the elections were used by APC leaders to hijack materials, illegally arrest PDP and manipulate the process.
He said that the people resisted the attempt by the military to subvert the election process.
“Remember I warned that today’s Nigeria is not yesterday’s Nigeria. Things that were done wrongly before cannot be done wrongly now. I warned that the people will resist any attempt to rig,” he said .