The Federal House of Representatives candidate in Akulga/Asalga Federal constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. Dawari George has responded swiftly to an allegation that he connived with a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt to draw up a list of returning officers from the institution with the aim of rigging the re-run legislative elections scheduled for March 19, 2016.
This was contained in a press release issued in Port Harcourt and sent to this weekly on Wednesday. The release which was signed by Dr. Dawari George, the APC candidate, Akulga/Asalga Federal constituency, it was stated that “ordinarily, such a wild allegation would not merited a response from me. Regrettably, I am compelled to respond because the allegation was credited to no less person than the governor of Rivers State, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike”.
The APC candidate wondered why a state governor would make such unfounded allegations against him stating, “I am neither a staff of the University of Port Harcourt nor the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The management of the University is not answerable to me or my party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. Moreover the responsibility of enlisting electoral officials is the exclusive preserve of INEC and not an individual or a political party.
Dr. George said that as a candidate in the March 19, 2016 re-run elections he had conducted a sober and issue based campaign.
The release reads in part, “I have refrained from the indecorous campaign of name-calling and abuse which fail to enrich our political communication. In the circumstance, two main reasons may be adduced for this inane accusation: first, to injure my reputation, and second, to induce me to respond in like manner and thereby present me undignified before the March 19, 2016 re-run elections”.
The former federal lawmaker pointed out that the overwhelming support that his candidature is receiving from the people of the Akuku-Toru/Asari-Toru Federal constituency across all political divides, hence the only tool left to his political opponents is to assassinate his character, saying that, “I however, refused to be dragged into the arena of the weird war of words which has become the sad testament of Rivers people”.
Dr. George reminded Nyesom Wike that the office of Governor is highly revered, thus it imposes upon him (Wike) a high standard of duty of care for all citizens.
In conclusion, Dr. George said “Governor Wike may wish to cross check all information fed him by people seeking his approval so that he is not sucked into making inane allegations against Rivers State citizens; otherwise the office of Governor will end up being ridiculed. For the avoidance of doubt, the people of Akuku-Toru/Asari-Toru Federal constituency have had a taste of most of the candidates vying for their votes, and they alone will make their choice through the ballot”.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State has reacted to an allegation made on Tuesday by the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, when the Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ndowa Lale and the management of the university paid him a courtesy call in Government House Port Harcourt, that the opposition party in the state is contemplating rigging the March 19 rerun elections.
Describing the utterance as the most callous and mischievous lie of the Century, the party that the comment is a smokescreen by the Governor to conceal his attempts to repeat what he did in 2015 but could not repeat because the APC is closely monitoring his antics. It added that some of those in that audience, who knew what the governor has been trying to do, must have really been amused at his accusation against the APC.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, Rivers APC was categorical that it does not believe and therefore are not involved in any process or action that tend to compromise the electoral process, not the least the forthcoming rerun elections scheduled for March 19, 2016 in Rivers State, adding that the management of the University of Port Harcourt is responsible enough not to get involved in the kind of contrivance that Wike made.
The statement further read, “Again, it is important to re-state here that Dr. Dawari George is the APC candidate for Akuku-Toru/Asari-Toru Federal Constituency in the forthcoming rerun elections and does not work in INEC. It is also important to state that Prof. Otu Ekpenyong whom the governor maligned in his statement is the same Prof. Otu Ekpenyong who, as a returning officer, returned Senator George Thompson Sekibo as elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the past. If the governor remembered this perhaps he would have had a second thought before his reckless accusation against the Professor and others.
“The APC notes with consternation that Gov. Nyesom Wike is suddenly picking on any and every imaginable persons and institutions for bashing because of the March 19 rerun elections. Yesterday it was INEC, next was security agents especially the Nigerian Army. Today it is the University of Port Harcourt. Tomorrow it may be market women that will come under the hammer of the governor, who knows.
“The All Progressives Congress would like to advise Gov. Nyesom Wike to strive to overcome the things that habit his subconscious as a result of what he did in the past to gain power, and if he does, he will discover that he need not look to the stars for the solution to his problems. He is the architect of his own fears.”###
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