The conflict in Rivers state between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been characterised by Governor Nyesom Wike as "nothing abnormal."
In a Tuesday live media interview in Port Harcourt, Wike revealed this.
The governor of Rivers claimed that PDP was merely being vigilant to prevent a repeat of an incident that happened following the 2015 elections.
Remember how the APC in the state claimed that PDP-affiliated thugs had attacked them while carrying out the PDP's directives when it asked INEC to inspect the voting materials used in the March 18 governorship election?
But for the past week or so, the state's ruling party has been protesting, requesting that INEC only provide the election papers to the APC for scrutiny in the presence of the PDP.
Wike, in response to the state's post-election crisis, stated: "There is nothing strange that you think is going on in Port Harcourt. PDP is simply being on the lookout.
When the police submitted original results to the tribunal rather than CTCs of the original, the governor claimed that the PDP was startled.
He said, “Everybody was shocked: ‘How would the police tender original results?’ And INEC had their own certified true copies. INEC tendered their own.
“To our greatest surprise, the court accepted the police’s original results. It was surprising to us, down to the Court of Appeal and we have seen this happen several times. Remember what happened in Imo State.”
Wike argued that since every party is entitled to the documents that were used in conducting elections, having applied to INEC, the PDP needs to ensure it is receiving what others are.
He said, “And we now said to INEC, ‘We will know whether what you’re giving to us is what you’re giving to these parties. Note all the parties and sign for it, so we’ll know that you’re giving exactly the same you have given to these people.’
“But we don’t want what happened last time to reoccur. You can’t have two Michaels at the same time. So, all these things you are hearing that the APC is shouting is because they know that game they played the last time, we will not allow it to happen again,” Wike added.
