PDP Raises Questions, As ‘Missing’ EO Resurfaces At INEC Office
As widespread condemnation continues to greet the ignoble role of the Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Rivers State, Mr. Akin Fakorede in last Saturday Governorship and State Assembly polls in the State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State says it is at a loss as to how the Electoral Officer (EO) in-charge of Khana Local Government Area, resurfaced at INEC’s office in Port Harcourt, Monday morning, after he was forcefully taken away by Akin Fakorede earlier on Sunday.
PDP in a statement in Port Harcourt said the abducted EO was spotted at INEC gate in Port Harcourt on Monday morning with some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) trying to submit fake and doctored results of the controversial Saturday elections in Khana Local Government Area.
The PDP said available information showed that the EO was taken to an unknown destination, beaten, blindfolded and forced to sign fake results for Khana Local Government Area Governorship and State Assembly elections.
“Yesterday, we alerted the good people of Rivers State and indeed Nigerians of how Akin Fakorede led scored of military men and some leaders of the APC into Bori Collation Center, hijacked the EO, all materials, shot several persons, including Dr. Ferry Barineka Gberegbe, a lecturer with the Kenule Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori”, the PDP said.
It added that Dr. Ferry Gberegbe and others who were shot on Sunday are lying critically ill in the hospital.
Following this development, the PDP said pertinent questions now beg for urgent answers:
“Where is the EO who was kidnapped by Akin Fakorede yesterday, coming from this morning? What is the EO doing at the gate of INEC office in Port Harcourt this morning?
“Who are these APC leaders that are with him? Where was the EO coming from this morning?”
The PDP said it behooves on the INEC as well as security agencies to provide answers to these questions so as to reassure Rivers people that these actions are not deliberate efforts to rig the elections.