All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in River State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has berated Mrs. Eno Udensi, President of a South Africa-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) for claiming that the April 11 elections in Rivers State were free and fair.

Peterside’s Greater Together Campaign Organisation (GTCO) in a statement issued this morning in Port Harcourt dismissed Mrs. Udensi’s claims, which she made on Africa Independent Television (AIT), as an afterthought from a biased observer. GTCO advised Mrs. Udensi, who in the same television programme said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deserved commendation for “job well done” to learn to speak the truth at all times at least, not to mislead the younger generation. “We want to advise Mrs. Udensi, who is a known apologist of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio, that truth at all times, is costlier than cash,” GTCO said.

It dismissed Mrs. Udensi’s canvassed on behalf of the Pan African Women Observer Group, which monitored the elections in Rivers State, as warped and accused her of selling her value for a pot of porridge.

While expressing the hope Mrs. Udensi’s views were personal and not that of the observer group she led, the campaign outfit noted that even at that, her position was strange and an aberration when compared with other reports turned in by credible observer groups, including teams from United States and the European Union.

According to the statement, “It was possible Mrs. Udensi was quarantined by her sponsors in an insulated five-star hotel room, sipping leisurely cups of coffee, when the guns were booming in Akuku Toru and Asari Toru local government areas. It was possible her sponsors sedated her with a lullaby that lured her to sleep on a water bed when armed militia groups sponsored by PDP went on killing spree in Tai, Etche, Okrika, Port Harcourt City. She also must have been in that deep sleep when PDP thugs attacked virtually every Poling Unit in Rivers State and snatched ballot boxes and ballot papers, thumb-printed in private homes, burnt the RAC in Buguma and committed other electoral malfeasances against Rivers people. Had Mrs. Udensi done the job she came to Rivers State last April 11, she would have seen the travesty, the day-robbery and the war unleashed on Rivers people by PDP in criminal collaboration with INEC and security agencies.”

GTCO reiterated its earlier rejection of all that took place in Rivers State on April 11. “We insist that what transpired in Rivers State on April 11 was no election in the true meaning of the word. Mrs. Udensi is an enemy of Rivers’ future and wellbeing. By her views, she has revealed her connivance in the questionable conduct of Mrs. Gesila Khan, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in the conduct of the elections. It is unfortunate that people like Mrs. Udensi saw no evil in INEC’s betrayal. Until justice was done, Rivers people will continue to demand same and condemn likes of Mrs. Udensi,” the statement said.

•Photo shows Peterside.

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