Two leaders of the Labour Party in Rivers State, Hilda Dokubo and Prince Favour Reuben, have expressed divergent views about the credibility of the local government election in the state.
While Dokubo, who is the state chairman said, the election was peaceful and orderly, Reuben, who is the South-South Zonal Chairman of the party said the election was hijacked and manipulated by people with government money.
Dokubo, who voted at Asari Toru Local Government Area, said from how the election was conducted, there was no reason for anyone to protest against the election.
“Participating in the election was the right thing to do to move forward,” she told Classic FM. She added that what was important was that an elected local government will now be in place. “It doesn’t really matter now the outcome. We have to face the reality and live with it,” the Labour Party chairman said.
But the South-South Zonal Chairman of the party, Reuben said the election was flawed from the beginning when the result sheets could not be produced at the polling units.
He said the absence of the police at the polling units gave free vent for vote buying and thuggery. He added anybody from opposition that said the election was credible should be investigated.
“No sound opposition will tell you that this election was credible or fair unless the person is in collaboration with the destroyer of the electoral processes in Rivers State,” Reuben said.
He accused the state electoral commission of misleading candidates from the opposition to spend so much money to buy forms and campaign when the commission knew it was not going to conduct a free election.
“You allowed us to spend our hard-earned money to campaign, to buy forms to raise money for RISIEC and at the end of the day you didn’t allow us to do election,” he lamented.
Peoplesmind
