The Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, Arc. Tonye Cole, has cried that democracy, as practised in the state, was a huge disgrace.

Cole spoke in Port Harcourt yesterday after thugs alleged to be supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), attacked him, the Chairman of the APC, Chief Emeka Beke and other leaders of the party in the state.

The APC leaders and its Guber candidate were en route to the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Port Harcourt–Aba expressway to obtain Certified True Copies of documents used by the INEC in the conduct and declaration of the just concluded governorship and state house of assembly elections in the state.

But, on arrival at the GRA junction of the express way, hundreds of PDP supporters who were on a protest demanding that INEC’s CTC documents should also be given to the PDP stopped the APC leaders.

The rampaging supporters attacked Cole, Beke and others chasing them into the Government Reserved Area under gunfire.

Journalists who were in the INEC’S office and those arriving the area for covering were trapped in the ceaseless hear deafening gunshots. The armed thugs who strolled with their guns uninterruptedly advanced to the APC secretariat at the heart of the GRA.

Speaking at the APC state secretariat, Cole narrated that they were stopped by the thugs and beaten up, alleging that police provided secuity for the thugs to operate.

Cole, who described democracy in the State under Chief Nyesom Wike as a sham, said the move by PDP members is a calculated attempt to stop APC from approaching the court to seek redress against the injustice done during the 18th of March elections

He said: “INEC has a number of days to release documents to us and we 21 days for us to file out petitions. Fourteen days after the election, today is the sixteenth day after the declaration INEC has not released any single document to us.

“On Friday, we went to the INEC office and we met only junior officers there. When we got there, we asked them, they said we should come back today Monday that we will receive our documents

“This morning when we were going we met a massive mobilisation of boys and girls outside the INEC office who said with their own mouths that they are PDP and that body will come here except them. They said I should go back or else they will embarrass me.

“I refused. Because I refused they began to slap me, they grabbed my shirt and started throwing pure water at us. Before I knew it that have started throwing blocks, and bottles.

“My security men determined that I must come out there and physically carried me out. I got a serious injury on my shoulder, and three of our vehicles were destroyed. Democracy in this state is a disgrace.

“We left the INEC office and came back to our party secretariat so that we can restrategise, we saw whole lot of PDP thugs led by Ikwerre Local Government Chairman and the Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly, coming here with armed boys escorted by policemen.

“They came and started shooting outside our party office our policemen came and pushed them back. I came out that if they are going to kill me that they should do it.

“We had credible information that they are going to be mobilising like this every day till Friday and by Friday we will be out of time. They are trying to prevent us from filing our documents. These are people that said they won by popularity, why are they stopping us. We have Credible information that they hijacked this election and do not want us to go to the tribunal," he said.

However, the Chairman of the APC said called for the relocation of the election petition tribunal to Abuja, citing insecurity.

Beke said they have written the president of the Court of Appeal to move the tribunal from Rivers State to Abuja, adding that the security of the APC lawyer is not guaranteed.

He said: “When we came to the INEC office this morning the place was barricaded by PDP members led by the chairman of Ikwerre and Deputy Speaker of the state assembly.

“They started beating and throwing stones at us. When we left the place on the advice of the DSS personnel that went with us. We came back to the party secretariat, and they followed us to the party secretariat and destroyed our cars. The Intelligence Units of the police that said they were providing security allowed the armed boys to come to our party secretariat.

“What is the guarantee that our lawyers can have access to the tribunal? We have written to the Inspector General of Police, and the Commissioner of Police to give us access to go and pick up the documents. After this, we will write the president of the Appeal court to make sure they relocate the tribunal from Rivers State to Abuja. Because no lawyer is safe as far as you are APC you are not safe in Rivers State,” he added. (Vanguard)

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