The candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in 2015 governorship election in Rivers state, Tonye Princewill has restated that his opponent, Nyesom Wike ought not to have appealed the judgment of the Rivers state Election Petitions tribunal.
Princewill, who described Wike as ‘stubborn’ in a statement, said approaching the Supreme Court is a mere strategy to buy time.
He re-emphasized that elections never held in Rivers in the March and April dates.
While criticising the security concerns surrounding election processes in Nigeria, the Labour candidate noted that recent elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states show that the electoral umpire, INEC, is yet to get things right.
Princewill called on the people of Rivers state to prepare for election and be ready to correct the mistakes of the past.
According to him, “Ordinarily, I would not bother to comment on news that is not only inevitable but in progress. We still have to wait for the Supreme Court.
“Wike refused to accept my advice at the tribunal stage and still went ahead to appeal the judgement. It is therefore reasonable to assume he will maintain the same stubborn stance and delay the inevitable yet again. It is, after all, his prerogative.
“Anyone who is truly confident of his popularity should not be afraid to face the electorate. PDP has a lot of supporters. But everyday they drag this process out, they may loose more and more and more.
“Forget the arrogance of politicians, nobody knows what the outcome of an election will be, but everyone with a conscience knows that the one we had in 2015 was neither free nor fair nor credible. It can’t stand scrutiny. As we have now seen.
“As for the conduct of future elections in Rivers, it is worth noting the supremacy of the card reader as now contained in this judgement and the way elections in Kogi and Bayelsa went,” the LP flag bearer stated.
