What You Need To Know About The Ongoing Crisis In Rivers
The elections witnessed on March 28 and 29 will go down in the history of the country as one of the biggest ever. For the first time in a long while, Nigerians witnessed peaceful elections in most parts of the nation.
However, with a whopping population of over 140 million people, it is almost impossible to eliminate violence completely. This is evident in the proportion of chaos that was witnessed in some regions in the country.
In this piece, Legit.ng focuses its attention on the ongoing crisis that has erupted in Rivers state, which is one of the strong zones of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, as Nigerians continue to await the full outcome of the elections.
There was mayhem on Day 1 of the elections, March 28, when the incumbent governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, ordered the suspension of accreditation of voters in Ikwerre local government area in the state following the non-availability of result sheets and a reported attack on security agents and corps members.
According to Governor Amaechi, all sensitive and non-sensitive materials were on the ground in his polling unit. However, because of the fact that one of the key sensitive materials was missing (the result sheets), the situation on the ground became a big source of worry to him and just hours afterwards the governor made a statement alleging that all the election equipment and materials, especially result sheets, were largely possessed by the PDP agents.
Governor Amaechi accused the electoral commissioner in charge of the Rivers State of deliberately truncating the electoral process in the state so as to favour President Jonathan, pointing accusing fingers also at Brigade Commander of the second Brigade, Bori Camp in Port Harcourt, Essien Essien who he said was sent by the president to eliminate him.
As such, Governor Ameachi called for the immediate cancellation of the polls conducted in the state. The governor and other APC supporters besieged the Rivers INEC office to demand for election cancellation. He said that the presidential elections held in the state were irreparably compromised, and the results must be cancelled.
This declaration by the governor sparked a gunfight, and it was reported that scores of members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State were killed and injured just as the presidential and national assembly elections were ongoing in the state.
One of the victims, an APC member in Ward 3, Unit 2, Ogale-Eleme, was allegedly killed by a soldier attached to a prominent leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Eleme, Eleme local government area.
Following the controversy that has erupted in the state, many have trooped to the streets and on social media to vent their anger on the current crisis going on in the state. Read tweets and reaction below;
Source: Legit.ng
