December 19, 2015 – A non-governmental organisation, Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) has commended the judiciary for nullifying what it called fraudulent gubernatorial elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states on April 11th, 2015.
INEC declared, Mr. Nyesom Wike and Emmanuel Udom as governors of Rivers and Akwa Ibom State respectively.
But the Court of Appeal annulled their elections and ordered a re-run.
“We demand the immediate prosecution of INEC officials and their collaborators who conspired in violating the laws of the land and subjected the Nigerian people to international ridicule by the fraudulent conduct of the Rivers and Akwa Ibom states gubernatorial elections which has been nullified by the court of appeal’’, Executive Chairman, CCPM, Mr. Nelson Ekujimi noted, adding that by these bold judgements, the judiciary has once again showed that, she remains the bastion of hope and succour for the common man to get justice.
“It is an indisputable fact that the conduct of elections in any democracy, anywhere in the world must be in conformity with laid down laws and where such is not the case, such election must be regarded as a nullity and a rape on democracy which must not be allowed to stand’’, he noted, adding that the conduct of the Rivers and Akwa Ibom states gubernatorial elections on April 11th, 2015 by INEC was generally acknowledged by voters, local and international election observers and monitors, security agents, the media and political parties except the beneficiary and INEC as a monumental fraud in which hooliganism and brigandage was the order of the day through ballot snatching, ballot stuffing, violence, abduction, intimidation and assault of voters, journalists, observers, party agents and electoral officials.
“In fact, the atmosphere in both Rivers and Akwa Ibom states before and during the gubernatorial elections was a war-like situation, characterized by massive violence in which the security agencies had a running battle with political thugs and mercenaries who disrupted the holding of elections and where there seemed to be semblance of conduct of election, the miscreants hijacked ballot papers, intimidated, assaulted and hindered INEC officials from performing their functions, but at the end of the day, election results were manufactured to the consternation and violation of the democratic rights of the citizens to freely exercise their franchise”, CCPM said.
He said that the Court of Appeal just like the states gubernatorial elections petition tribunals have done justice to the sensibility and democratic rights of the people of Rivers and Akwa Ibom states in particular and Nigerians in general, by nullifying the elections.
“As we are joyful over the restoration of the dignity and honour of the people of Rivers and Akwa Ibom states to freely exercise their franchise in line with the spirit and letter of democracy by these court of appeal judgements, we demand that the government set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the violence unleashed on the people of the two states which disrupted the elections and recommend appropriate punishments for the perpetrators and their sponsors, as well compensations to the families of those who were killed, the injured and maimed and a public apology from the federal government to the good people of these states for the traumatization suffered as a result of the failure of the Nigeria state to guarantee their constitutional and democratic right”, he said.
