Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters, yesterday, took to the streets of Port Harcourt to protest what they termed attempts violate the mandate given to the party to govern the state in the next four years, insisting that the electoral umpire must remain apolitical and independent.
The supporters, who marched to Aba road from GRA junction to waterlines, asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a joint inspection of political parties on its documents and not to allow just one political party to inspect the materials.
The supporters displayed posters with different inscriptions such as: “PDP demand the CTC (Certified True Copy) of all results from INEC;” “Save our mandate, give us our mandate, INEC.”
Speaking with The Guardian, one of the protesters, Ikechi Worlu, said: “No amount of interference or threats can change the mandate freely given to us by the good people of Rivers State.
“The PDP in Rivers State must be treated fairly in the just concluded general elections because we won massively and convincingly.
“We demand a genuine copy of the 2023 results in hard copy and on IReV. Democracy must be protected and preserved in Rivers State.”
This protest followed a visit by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tonye Cole, on Friday, to INEC office, asking INEC to allow the party access to CTC of the election result and materials.
MEANWHILE, while PDP supporters were making their demands, Cole and the state party Chairman, Emeka Beke, arrived at the scene to honour the invitation by the Commission, but the PDP supporters stopped them from accessing the Commission’s office.
Moments later, the atmosphere became charged as some youths started throwing stones at the APC chiefs in a bid to chase them away.
Cole and Beke were attacked by suspected political thugs.
The situation snowballed into heavy shooting and grounded all activities as armed youths took over. Although no casualty was recorded, some cars owned by APC chiefs were damaged.
The hoodlums shot sporadically into the air and moved freely from the former office of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), opposite INEC, and through Polo Club into the Government Reserved Area.
