Tony John, Port Harcourt and Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti
Rivers State Police Command has announced that security has been beefed up around the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office, Aba Road, Port Harcourt, venue of the election result collation centre.
Commissioner of Police and Chairman of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), Usman Belel, after a meeting of the agency and other bodies superintending over the elections, agreed yesterday, to put in place adequate security measures, to ensure the entire process was transparent and seamlessly carried out.
He said: “The Rivers State Police Command wishes to inform the public and, indeed, residents of the state, that security has been beefed up in the state as INEC commences the collation of the gubernatorial and House of Assembly election results, scheduled to begin today.
“Part of the security measures put in place, as agreed by the agencies, included massive deployments of police personnel and other sister security agencies to the venue and the outer perimeter of the collation centre.
“Total closure of the Port Harcourt/Aba Expressroad, the stretch from the Waterlines to the GRA junctions, both in and outwards of the roads. Diversions only, to Olu-Obasanjo and Polo Club roads.”
The police commissioner noted with concern, the temporary hardship the closure would cause and appealed to public for understanding and to bear with them.
“The closure is done in the overall interest of the public and intended to provide conducive atmosphere for the collation exercise.
“Politicians, candidates and, in deed, unauthorised persons are seriously warned to stay clear from the collation centre, as any person or group whose act or omission undermines the process will be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the Electoral Act.
“We, therefore, solicit your unalloyed cooperation and support, as we collectively prosecute the last lap of this all important national assignment,” the police commissioner said.
Meanwhile, senator representing Rivers South East , Magnus Abe, has said no individual can determine the future of Rivers State.
Abe, who spoke in Port Harcourt, emphasised that the right to choose who governs the state and those who lead must remain, exclusively, with the people.
He said as leaders, it is their responsibility to ensure the process is done in a manner that is peaceful, responsible and puts the final choice, as to who leads, in the hands of the people of the state.
“If Nigerians and Rivers people want a better state and better life, they must come out and fight for what they believe in, and that is what I think we ought to be doing.
“In several places in this country, when the elections were going on, citizens came out and stood their ground, and at the end of the day, everybody has to submit to what the citizens wanted.
“So, I believe the future of Rivers is in the hands of the people. They need to come together and decide on what is right and how we can make things better in Rivers State.
“It is not something that will happen by accident; people must come out and fight for it, and I’m ready to be one of those people that will fight for a better Rivers State,” he said.
Also, National Chairman of People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN), Razak Eyiowuawi, has raised the alarm over alleged plot to annul the victory of the party’s candidate, Gumba Gbabara, in the Gokana State Constituency for House of Assembly election in Rivers State.
Eyiowuawi warned that, “any attempt to tamper with the outcome of election in Gokana State Constituency where Gbabara has won, with all collated results at the ward level still with the security agencies, would be resisted.”
The PPN chairman alleged this in a statement made available to journalists, in Ado Ekiti, yesterday.
