The vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in February 23 presidential election, Peter Obi, said the needless involvement of the military by President Muhammadu Buhari aggravated the situation in Rivers state during the last Saturday’s gubernatorial and state Assembly elections.
The former governor of Anambra state in a statement from his media office Tuesday noted that, “The militarization of election to the extent of carrying collation center to a military location and denying international observers access is clearly unacceptable and a grave breach of democratic norms.
The vice presidential candidate said that needless involvement of the military has aggravated the situation in Rivers state and wondered why the undue interest in Rivers, very well-known strong PDP state.
He added that, “The Rivers state Governor Neysom Wike should be the last to face this type of harassment given his popularity with his people who are as a result of his outstanding performance which earned him Mr. Project even from an opposition person.
“All reasonable persons within and outside the country who desire the growth and sustenance of democracy in this part of the World should rise up and condemn what is going on in Rivers state.
“Any reasonable person should know that Gov Wike is the last person to be harassed knowing what he has put in just in four years in the delivery of democracy dividend”.
He also described as curious the fact that all the six states that INEC declared inconclusive are where PDP was cruising to victory before it was halted.
According to him, “The ruling party has become so shameless in their desperation as they have become brazen in perpetuating their rigging agenda.
He charged the global democracies to show more than passing interests in what is going on in Nigeria particularly Rivers state, adding that, “Such untoward behavior has far reaching consequences in the entire democratic process in the continent and the World.
