Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has called on the National Assembly to take the amendment of the Electoral Act to the next level by ensuring that the electoral process is not manipulated through the Card Reader.
Speaking during the 60th birthday of Senator Senator George Thompson Sekibo and the public presentation of six books written by the lawmaker, on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, governor Wike stressed that unless measures are taken to protect the electoral process, the electoral umpire may use the current situation to rig in favour of the ruling party.
“The National Assembly should take the amendment of the Electoral Act a step further by ensuring only votes that emanate from the card reader count.
“Other than that, the electoral umpire may manipulate the system to favour the ruling party. We know what they are capable of doing and this should be addressed.”
On the birthday celebration, Wike described the senator Representing Rivers-East senatorial district, Sekibo as a dependable politician who places the interest of the state above other considerations.
He noted that Sekibo plays his politics with sincerity of purpose.
In his remarks, Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa said Sekibo is a repository of legislative knowledge.
Chairman on the occasion and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, noted that Sekibo is one of the serious minds in the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio and representative of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Ahmad Lawan, described Sekibo as one of the voices who help guide debates in the Senate.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara, represented by Mr. Jones Onyereri, said the House of Representatives felicitates with senator Sekibo on his birthday.
In his response, Sekibo assured Nigerians that he will continue to work for the development of the country.
Meanwhile, former Commissioner for Transport and Aviation in Rivers State, Emeh Glory Emeh, has said the reaction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the decamping of its members to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the past three months, is expected and natural.
Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, Emeh said: “It is no doubt painful, without sounding immodest to loose a politician of my experience, capacity and capability. So, I appreciate the pains APC and their leaders are experiencing because of my exit, but, I have no apologies.
”It is quite obvious that APC knows that it losing members in droves, alleging that his earlier assertions of lack of direction and leadership in the party, cannot be controverted as doing so would amount to living in fools paradise.
“The fact that over 200 out of the 319 councillorship candidates who are in court against the PDP are set to dump their matter in court and empty into the PDP is also not debatable as the reality would dawn on Chris Finebone and, indeed, the APC in the next couple of weeks.
“Those who have spoken with us in private, they are tired of endless court cases which, at the end of the day, would be of no benefit to them and that they are ready to join a fold that will bode well for them and their aspirations.
“The last straw that broke the carmel’s back was the acrimonious and cantankerous outcome of the caucus leadership meeting held at a shopping mall in Port Harcourt recently where the meeting was said to have ended in fiasco.”
resulting in those in attendance scampering for safety, when the three factions, including Dakuku Peterside’s, Senator Magnus Abe’s and Chibuike Amaechi’s, struggled for space over which faction should produce the governorship candidate for APC in 2019.
“The movement of APC members to PDP, a more stable and organised party does not require any imagination, as the defection events are both in audio and video, and have been aired in several electronic media platforms, with copies available to all those interested in them. APC is gone and gone forever in Rivers State, and this is no longer news to its discerning members.
“If the cursory scrutiny and various calls from the various councils, the APC referred to in its statement have been honest with them, they should realise by now that their stalls in the market place are empty.
“It does not matter how much window dressing the docile publicity secretary attempt to make of the reality, the fact on the ground is that Governor Nyesom Wike has conquered and taken over the political landscape in the state forever,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Emeh Glory Emeh has invited all doubting Thomases in APC to take time to watch the video of all the several defectors and ascertain for themselves who they are and asked: “Is Sunny Wokekoro, former commissioner for Culture and Tourism, and former chieftain of APC hired? What of Merino Okiraija from Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area, a former APC stalwart? How do we describe Bob Okala, former chairman of Emohua local government area, Chief Nwankwo Nwankwo, former special adviser to former Governor Amaechi and a good number of other APC chieftains.”
He said his party’s programmes are grassroots oriented.
Source:sun
