I’VE NEVER BEEN PART OF ELECTION RIGGING IN PDP —AMAECHI

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, again, on Thursday, descended heavily on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying he had never joined the party to rig elections.
This was as he expressed doubt about the ability of the Professor Attahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct fair elections in 2015, saying the exercise can only be free.
He said this while speaking with newsmen at the Government House in Port Harcourt, emphasising the need for eligible voters in the state to ensure they were registered to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
The governor said in all his years as a PDP member, he had always been a different person, who had never stood on the same ground with the party leadership on a lot of issues, including rigging.
“An example is, all of my followers know I am quite different from the normal PDP person. When I was in the PDP, they saw me as a different person altogether, because I never stood with them on a lot of issues, including rigging.
“You can ask them; you can ask the PDP if I supported rigging. Before you wake and go to a place, I have finished. I don’t know whether they were rigging or not, but all I am saying is that before you go and come back, everything is over.
“I stood my ground as a governor. And as the people’s governor, insistence is that the people’s mandate is critical and important. I don’t know what PDP does when it comes to voting; I don’t participate; I don’t know what they do, but I assure you that this time round, our votes must count,” he said.
Speaking on the PVCs registration, starting in seven local government areas of the state today, Amaechi said he sympathised with the electoral body for not being able to do the registration in all the 23 local government areas and expressed hope that it would find solution to the problem.
“What INEC is doing now is to say all the elections in the past were not properly conducted. Now, it wants to conduct a proper and free election. I did not use the word ‘fair’.
“This is because election in 2015 may be free, but at the end of the day, it may not be fair. If they use police and army to chase away the voters of the All Progressives Congress (APC), do you call that election fair? No matter how much INEC would have used to put a technical process in place, the election won’t still be fair.
“So, you can only say whether the election is fair at the end of the election. But for now, we can assume that INEC will be able to conduct a free election, believing and trusting that Jega will be able to defend his reputation,” he said.
The governor, however, urged all eligible voters in the state, including PDP members, to make sure they got their PVCs, saying it was only by doing so that his legacy in the state could be sustained.
Source: Tribune