Rivers:PDP Supporters protest to INEC,demand joint inspection of documents by parties

Monday, April 3, 2023 11:32 am

The protesters

*Accuse INEC of planning to instigate a crisis in Rivers

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Scores of supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers today staged a peaceful protest to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, asking it not to allow just one party alone to inspect Electoral materials, except jointly done to all political parties.

Protesters who caused heavy traffic that trapped motorists and commuters access to various destinations on Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway also insisted on the release of Certified True Copies (CTC) of electoral materials used in the February 25 and March 18, 2023 elections in Rivers State to them to defend victory of the party at the tribunal.

The protesters carried placards with varying inscriptions like:” No one party should be allowed to inspect materials alone.”, “Police and INEC want to instigate crisis in the state”, “We want Certified True Copies, CTCs, to defend our mandates”.and others.

One of the leaders of the protesters, Samuel Nwanosike, also the Chairman of the Ikwerre local government Council area said it was within the rights of the PDP to get the required documents to defend the mandates secured during the concluded elections.

Recall could be made that Tonye Cole, the Governorship candidate for APC had led supporters of the party to the INEC Office in Port Harcourt last week accusing them of frustrating its Lawyers access to vital documents to challenge the victory of PDP at the election tribunal.

Meanwhile, the arrested and detained Lawyers hired by APC have been released from custody and vital seized INEC documents are being processed to file cases and the tribunal had been recovered.

Tonye Cole confirmed the release of the Lawyers and recovered documents from the Police accused the state government of using Police to intimidate political opponents.