Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, says the ongoing protest by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Port Harcourt is aimed at preventing the manipulation of the results of the March 18, 2023 governorship and House of Assembly elections.

The governor noted that since the law allows political parties to access electoral materials the INEC used in conducting the elections, the PDP in the state, as a precautionary measure, is insisting on every party having access to the documents at the same time.

Wike, who spoke during a media chat in Port Harcourt yesterday, explained that PDP was simply being proactive to prevent a recurrence of malicious altering of the will expressed by Rivers people at the polls in 2015 by the police and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“There is nothing that is abnormal about what you think is going on in Port Harcourt. What PDP is doing is just being vigilant. Vigilant in the sense that precisely after the 2015 election, inauguration, we had problems that we never believed, and so we didn’t want a recurrence of that at the tribunal,” he said.

The governor added, “It shocked us when we were in the tribunal that the police tendered the original result, not a copy of the original result, and everybody was shocked. How would the police tender the original result and INEC have their own original certified true copy? INEC tendered their own, and to our greatest surprise, the court accepted the police’s original result. It was surprising to us.”

Wike said the PDP was being extra vigilant “because the APC’s in Rivers State has a penchant to compromise security agents and some officials of INEC.”

According to him, the PDP is still astounded by how police procured an original copy of INEC result sheets in 2016.

“Police brought the original result sheet. It is unbelievable. The court accepted the police’s own actions other than INEC. APC in Rivers State paid police.  What we expected is that the police should have a copy of the INEC result. And how did they get the original result sheet with the same serial number?”

Wike also explained that the PDP does not trust INEC sufficiently and will want to be present when APC is granted access to all electoral materials used in the conduct of the 2023 governorship and House of Assembly elections.

“We are being extra-vigilant because we know what our opponents are capable of doing.  All the plans, all the results they have printed to tender before the tribunal, we have it

“You are dealing with criminals and you must be extra vigilant. People can go to any length to procure documents and you will be shocked at what you will see in the tribunal.”

Speaking on the ongoing plans by the opposition parties to produce the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, Governor Wike declared that the state’s lawmakers will not be part of such a scheme.

He disclosed that though he is not a member of APC, prominent members of the party interested in the office of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives have reached out to him to indicate their interest.