Lagos, Nigeria: The hope that the end of the governorship tussle in Rivers State at the Supreme Court would kill all tension may have crashed as tension has rather heightened in the oil-rich state in the face of fresh verbal threats and counter threats.
The endorsed governor, Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had offered a hand of fellowship to the loser and Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had accepted the verdict and the offer by saying he would offer only constructive criticisms.
Few days later in the course of celebrations, Wike said at a thanksgiving church service that he would surely prosecute Peterside’s boss, Chibuike Amaechi over $150m allegedly diverted from the state’s funds to the APC campaigns. Amaechi called off his decision not to engage Wike in verbal brit-bats and reacted angrily, calling the governor a story teller and dared him to press charges against him.
Wike at the same time described Peterside as an orphan and invited him to be assisted, but the APC candidate described the talk as unworthy of his response.
Now, at a crowded press briefing on Tuesday, 09 February 2016, Peterside pointed at several inciting statements credited to Wike especially insulting President Muhammadu Buhari, describing of the nation’s armed forces as ‘Boko Haram soldiers’, asking electoral officers to write their wills, and promising massive bloodshed in the coming rerun.
He quoted Wike as saying; “Anyone who plans to rig an election is an armed robber and should be treated as such. If you are coming to rig an election in the state, first prepare your will before embarking on the journey. Inform your wife or husband and go ahead to say your last prayer.” He wondered why the governor was promising what he would do to an electoral offender instead of promising to report to the police. He asked whether the governor was going to be a complaint, enforcer and judge in cases of electoral malpractice.
Peterside said: “These are callous statements that promote violence coming from a man that is being accused of being behind violence during the 2015 elections in the state.
The APC standard bearer also drew attention of Nigerians to what he called wild jubilation that erupted in the state in the morning of the day the Supreme Court delivered judgment, several hours before the judgment was given in the evening.
Peterside asked if it was true that the Wike camp knew already the outcome of the verdict and how possible it was. He said Wike had boasted in the church before the world that he made contacts with some justices in Owerri, Mbaise (all in Imo State) and in Dubai. He called on Nigerians to review such boasts especially the boast by the governor that he was always calling one former governor whose wife was member of the topmost judiciary echelon in the country and was getting directives of who to see and what to do.
The APC lord appealed to the federal security to be alert to these disclosures and confessions saying they portrayed a big threat to democracy. He however urged the members of the APC in the state not to fall to intimidation on the rerun day but to stand firm and cast their votes, saying nothing that happened before would be allowed to happen again.
Admitting that about 100 APC members died in the 2015 elections, he said: “Not one of us will be intimidated this time. This is another opportunity that was denied before. We are talking just to let the world know that what the governor is saying and doing here”.
