On Friday, a group of influential members from the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State marched to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Port Harcourt to demonstrate against the electoral body’s persistent denial of their access to the Certified True Copies of the documents utilized during the recently concluded elections.

The protesters claimed that INEC was intentionally obstructing their attempts to bring their case before the Election Petitions Tribunal, and highlighted that they only have a limited window of 21 days to submit their petitions.

Tonye Cole, the All Progressives Congress’ governorship candidate in the March 18 election, along with his running mate Dr. Innocent Barikor, state APC Chairman Emeka Beke, and State Publicity Secretary Darlington Nwauju, led the protest at the commission’s office on Aba Road, Port Harcourt.

Cole spoke with reporters at the location, stating that they had gathered there to voice their dissatisfaction with the conduct of the state INEC.

He  mentioned that some of the party’s House of Assembly candidates had their declaration forms stamped on the same day as the election, which was March 18th.

He said, “I am not happy at all. We have come to INEC to express our deep frustration at what is going on. Essentially, we are time bound. We have 21 days from the time that the election results were declared, to file our petitions.

“Two weeks have gone, since we wrote to INEC. We requested from INEC to release CTC documents, but nothing was done.

“They have not released one single CTC document. And we have to prepare a brief, we have to go to Court. We have to prepare for Tribunals,” he disclosed.

Cole insisted that INEC had disregarded a court order obtained by the party that required the commission to release the documents, allowing the party to move forward with their case at the Tribunal. He described the commission’s behavior as “suspicious.”

“We have got court orders. They have been ignored. It tells me that something is going on. I believe that at this point in time, the onus is on INEC, as an independent election administrator, to be fair.

“Give us what we need, so that, we can go to court. Let us go to the tribunal and present a case. But if you release documents to us a day before the tribunal, what do we do?” Cole added.

He however disclosed he had spoken with the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, adding, “He has promised that by Monday, something will happen. So, we will be back on Monday.”

Despite the ongoing situation, Cole continued to stand by his claim that there were several irregularities in the March 18th election, specifically pointing to the Asari-Toru area as a clear example where the election results were significantly altered.

He noted, “The DG was at the collation centre, he made a protest against it. It was still accepted. Having been accepted, then, give us the document, let us review what happened. Nobody is answering us. I am very suspicious.”

The state APC Legal Adviser, Dike Iheanyichukwu, who spoke at the protest, claimed that the state INEC may have been compromised.

Iheanyichukwu further threatened that if their demands were not met, the party would shut down the commission’s office on Monday.

He said, “We have made applications, asking INEC, Rivers State, to oblige us of CTC of EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and other related EC series, as concerned elections.

“As I speak to you, INEC has not been able to give us a single document. And what we are talking about is going to the tribunal to seek redress. So, what INEC is doing is intentional. I have here a court order compelling INEC to allow us inspect documents, for them to give us a CTC. This order has been duly served on INEC. They have decided to disobey the law.

Iheanyichukwu also revealed that only a few days ago, some Electoral Officers were summoned to the INEC office to review the results they had submitted. The party’s legal adviser questioned why INEC was reluctant to release the National Assembly EC8A document.

He said, “The INEC national chairman should hear this. All security agencies should hear this. INEC should give us what we want, because it is our right to file our petition and we must do so.

“If they don’t do that, by Monday, we will barricade this place. No worker will enter here. They should be ready to kill all of us,” Iheanyichukwu declared.