PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers state says it won the March 18 governorship and assembly elections clean and square and no amount of grandstanding by the opposition could change that position.
Rivers PDP Director of Publicity in the 2023 elections campaigns, Chief Ogbonna Nwuke, in a statement he signed in Port Harcourt Tuesday also accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of overheating the polity and pushing the state towards crisis by calling stakeholders names without proof.
Nwuke, a former Reps member said, “We are aware what is playing out on the streets of Port Harcourt is part of a pre-arranged plot the APC to derail the transition process in Rivers after being undeniably visited across the state by the ghost of abandoned property.
“For days, Mr. Tonye Cole, governorship flag bearer of the APC, has been howling in public, repeatedly blaming the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and the PDP for the woes which befell his party.
“He has refrained from blaming the APC and himself for running a clueless campaign. From what we have seen, it is clear Cole is on a mission to cause needless trouble, invite violence and destabilise the State, after being roundly defeated by the PDP, and rejected at the polls by the Rivers people.
“Cole, has without proof called the PDP names and made allegations about our supposed relationship with INEC and security forces that are not true. The reckless comments credited to him, including talking into existence a Wike police have left us in shock.
“Accordingly, it has become necessary to ask the APC which does not have the back of Rivers people to stop its campaign of calumny. We have nothing against any move by anyone to seek relief through legal means within the confines of our statute books.
“But we are opposed to anyone instigating violence, crisis and bloodshed in a peaceful State. Despite acts of provocation, spreading of deliberate misinformation, barefaced lies and aspersions cast on our integrity by the APC, the PDP has remained calm. Not any more.
“The appearance of PDP supporters on the streets on Monday and our demand for the release of certified true copies of election documents has proved beyond doubt that we have all along been affected by the process put in place by INEC.
“Like the APC, we are required by law to acquire certified true copies of electoral documents to effectively file our defence now that it is clear that the APC is determined to fight in court.
“Our demand which has been brought before INEC officials by protesters thus proves the point that the APC has been lying brazenly about the alleged alliance with INEC and the security agencies to undermine it.
“We warn that there is a limit to our perseverance, our peaceful disposition and understanding even as we vow this day, in the name of God, to defend the mandate of the Rivers people and the PDP.
“We also warn that the Rivers people can no longer stomach the viruses that Cole and his disciples are spreading. Cole should go to the Tribunal rather than stoking crisis on the streets. That is the right thing to do.”
Vanguard