Rivers State government and Governor Wike has dismissed the report by the Police that the sum of #360million was given as bribe to 23 electoral officials to influence the December 12, 2016 re-run legislative elections as a cheap blackmail.
Speaking through his media aide, Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, the governor said that the alleged lie by the IG was another move to divert attention from alleged failure by the Police to assassinate the governor during the last re-run elections.
He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Wike did not spend N360m to rig the re-run legislative elections of December 10, 2016.
“The people of Rivers State overwhelmingly voted the PDP across the state because of the outstanding performance of Wike since May 29, 2015.
“The drama at the press conference convened by the IG Investigative Panel and the IG reveals the script being acted by the Police High Command, which is now obviously an arm of the ruling APC”.
Wike reiterated that a Police officer was allegedly caught on camera brutalizing a staff of INEC with an intention to rig results of the Rivers East senatorial elections in favour of the APC, yet same had been swept under the carpet.
Wike also recalled a case where a printer was caught allegedly printing fake results sheets ahead of the re-run elections in the state, an issue that the police also swept the issue under the carpet.
Wike said he was surprised that the IG at the press briefing was silent on the killers of DSP Muhammed Alkali, pointing out that the lies of the Police will not shore up the Force’s image.
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Also, the Rivers State Government in an official statement described as shameful the allegedly recovered monies from INEC Electoral Officials by the I-G’s committee set up to investigate Electoral Offences and Other Violent Acts during the Re-Run Rivers State Parliamentary Election held December 10, 2016.
The statement issued in Port Harcourt, by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, said, “We consider the allegations of the Police as shameful, defamatory and reckless in the extreme.
“Never in the annals of infamy have we seen a vital state security institution descend to the lowest depths of blackmail and criminality, as the Nigeria Police Force has done in this case.
“A month ago, we alerted the world to the dark, Orwellian plot by the Nigeria Police to implicate Governor Wike in a phoney bribe scandal.
“Now, the Police appear to be acting with shocking predictability, by making wild and completely groundless allegations against Wike”.
The Information Commissioner advised the police to come up with evidence of individuals who Wike had induced with the alleged recovered fund.
He said that the Police were seeking to divert attention from the disgraceful and criminal roles they played during the election, adding that the state would not succumb to the antics of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the police.
“The Rivers State Government challenges the Nigeria Police to show proof that Governor Wike financially induced any official of INEC.
“Does the Police have bank records of the purported transactions between Governor Wike and the Electoral Officers?
We challenge the Nigeria Police to move quickly to prosecute and imprison the so-called Electoral Officers on the basis of this dubious investigation.
“We strongly believe that the police panel is part of a bitter, politically-driven smear campaign launched by the Federal Government against Governor Wike, and the people of Rivers State.”
END
