INEC is structured to disfavour APC- Dakuku laments.

 

Rivers State governorship candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has claimed that the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) is structured to ‘disfavour’ the APC and protect the interests of the “last administration”.

Peterside expressed this displeasure when he led a delegation of APC Rivers State leaders on a courtesy call to the party’s National Chairman Chief John Odigie- Oyegun at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja; in hopes of seeking audience with President Muhammed Buhari.

According to Peterside, security structures that were lopsided against the APC before and during the 2015 elections are still working against and frustrating APC activities in the Rivers State.

“The partisanship against us was and is still enormous. INEC was put in place by the leadership of the last administration to perpetually protect its interest. We are all witnesses to how some of these actors found it convenient to annul results which were favourable to APC but upheld all those favourable to PDP under the same circumstances in the recently concluded governorship election in Bayelsa State.

“Meanwhile, politically speaking Rivers and Bayelsa States are in the same sub-zone of the South South geo-political zone. What has been put in place is to marginalise us and our members feel nothing is being done to change these structures to, at least, give us a fighting chance in neutrality.”

Still at a loss over his defeat at the Supreme Court, Peterside stated that many APC supporters in Rivers State are dispirited and have resorted to attacking members of the party’s leadership over what they deemed as treachery by their leaders.

“It will interest you to know that many of our members, supporters and sympathisers are still at a loss to see us work as orphans. We have a herculean task explaining to them that we actually form government at the centre. It is like, we lost the elections.

“To an overwhelming majority of them, the only indication that we might be part of government at the federal level is because our leader and Director General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign which led to a people’s revolution that defeated the former ruling party, and former Governor of the State, Rt. Hon. Chubuike Rotimi Amaechi is a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The concerns of our members are re-enforced by the fact that more than eight months after APC has formed government at the Federal Level, notable PDP chieftains and members who spent State resources to work assiduously against us (APC) are still occupying strategic federal government positions, dispensing patronages to PDP members to the disadvantage and chagrin of APC members.
Peterside reported that as a result of the unflinching support party leaders and members gave President Buhari and the APC, they have been exposed to undue attacks and hatred and internal discriminations.
“We are called all sorts of names including being branded as traitors and almost live like outcast in our communities and environments. Even today, we are not out of danger as we are killed, molested, maimed and insulted”.