A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and an indigene of Rivers State, Mr Austin Opara, has insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won Rivers State governorship election because “the state is a PDP State”.
He described as unfortunate the claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that elections were not held in the state on April 11.
Mr Opara made the statement on Wednesday, while giving an account of the governorship election held in Rivers State.
The candidate of the APC, Mr Dakuku Peterside had alleged that the police worked in concert with the PDP to rig the governorship election.
Mr Peterside told Channels Television on April 20 that there was no governorship election in Rivers State, claiming it was marred by “violence of unimaginable dimension” that led to the death of 13 persons.
“On April 11 terror was visited on Rivers’ people. Violence of unimaginable dimension.
“We lost 13 souls, with several other persons injured and many of them found themselves in different hospitals,” he said.
The governorship candidate of the PDP, Nyesom Wike, was declared the winner of the election by the electoral body, a victory Mr Opara said was won by the party because “the people of Rivers State are angry with Governor Amaechi”.
He questioned why the APC was claiming that the election was a sham.
“Why did you describe election as sham in areas that you did not win and credible in the places you won?
“Rivers State is a PDP state and Amaechi knew that he was going to lose the election.
“Amaechi’s relationship with people contributed to why the APC lost. No institution is standing in Rivers Sate. The state assembly is sitting in the Government House.
“There was no way the APC will win Rivers State. Repeat the election tomorrow, PDP will win. Rivers people saw Amaechi as a betrayal and an instrument used to betray President Jonathan,” he said.
Mr Opara further dismissed Mr Peterside’s claims that the persons were killed by thugs of the PDP, saying the “people in the area have had their problems and issues over the years and APC is relating it to election, but it has nothing to do with the election”.
He stressed that Governor Chibuike Amaechi had, at a stakeholders meeting, assured those present that he was in control of security, questioning how the security situation failed.
The PDP member also attributed the APC governorship candidate’s defeat to what he called unpreparedness on the part of the APC.
“The APC was not prepared for the election. They did not want the election to hold so that when Buhari comes in they will use that advantage to hold the election.”
He said that life in the state had been normal, contradicting claims that the state had nor remained the same after the governorship election.
