Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has declared that any attempt to rig the 2019 Elections in the state will be met with very stiff resistance.
Governor Wike also declared that aside negative assurances that there will be the rigging option, APC Rivers State wouldn’t have attempted to field candidates for the 2019 General election.
The governor who spoke during an interview at the Government House Port Harcourt on Friday said that it is incumbent on the security agencies and INEC to be impartial.
He said: “We want free and fair elections. We are therefore prepared to resist rigging. This is a solemn responsibility. Just take that as a bank draft.
“The only way forward is for the votes of the people to count. It is important that the security agencies must not only be seen to be neutral, they must be neutral”.
The governor added: “If not for the expectation to rig, there is no way that the APC will contemplate sponsoring candidates in Rivers State.
“All the hope they have is in rigging through the security forces. If they attempt to rig, there will certainly be resistance”.
The governor said that he is certain of a second term because his projects are scattered across the state and he has governed in line with his contract with the people.
“When you put all our projects together, everybody is satisfied that we have done well enough to merit a second term. The projects that earned me the title Mr Projects speak for themselves.
“The Vice President who conferred that name on me went beyond politics because of what he saw on ground. There is no local government area where we don’t have projects. We made promises and we have fulfilled the promises”, he said.
He said that APC Federal Government has no meaningful projects on ground in Rivers State. The governor noted that the International Departure Terminal commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari was over 79 percent completed by the Jonathan administration, while funding was set aside through a loan.
“The good thing that will happen in 2019 is for the PDP to win the elections. No Nigerian who wants to better his life will want the APC to win”, he said.
Governor Wike said that he is still speechless that President Muhammadu Buhari refused to sign the amended Electoral Act to strengthen the Democratic Process.
On security, Governor Wike noted that he is happy that issue of cultism has reduced fundamentally across the state. He said the killing of Don Wani and the signing of Anti-kidnapping and Anti-Cultism laws have helped in ensuring that criminals are checked.
Commenting on the crisis in Rivers APC, Governor Wike said that though it is not his business, it is obvious it that it a fallout of the impunity perpetrated by the Minister of Transportation.
He said that whatever the outcome, the PDP in the state will emerge victorious as it has effectively used the mandate of the Rivers people.
