The vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential election, Peter Obi, has expressed concern about fallouts from some states in last Saturday’s gubernatorial and state Assembly elections, particularly in Rivers State, and called for the attention of the international community.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, in a statement from his media office, said the militarisation of the election, to the extent of carrying collation centre to a military location and denying international observers access, is clearly unacceptable and a grave breach of democratic norms.
The vice presidential candidate said the involvement of the military has aggravated the situation in Rivers State, and wondered why the undue interest in Rivers, a very well known strong PDP state.
He said the Rivers state Governor, Neysom Wike, should be the last to face such harassment given his popularity with his people, “which is as a result of his outstanding performance, which earned him ‘Mr. Project’, even from an opposition person.
Obi said all reasonable persons within and outside the country, who desire the growth and sustenance of democracy in this part of the World, should rise and condemn what is going on in Rivers state.
“Any reasonable person should know that governor Wike is the last person to be harassed, knowing what he has put in, just in four years, in the delivery of democracy dividends.
Obi, also, described as curious, the fact that all the six states that Independent National Electoral Commission declared inconclusive are where PDP was cruising to victory before it was halted.
He said the ruling party has become so shameless in their desperation as they it become brazen in perpetuating its rigging agenda.
He urged the global democracies to show more than passing interests in what is going on in Nigeria, particularly Rivers state, “as such untoward behaviour has far reaching consequences in the entire democratic process in the continent and the world.”