Wenenda Wali, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, claims the situation in the state, where throngs of young people have been demonstrating at the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, is an issue that goes beyond the PDP.
Since last Monday, the PDP has been holding a demonstration outside the INEC state headquarters in Rivers State in support of its demand that the APC and PDP jointly examine poll materials.
The Port Harcourt-Aba highway was blocked up by demonstrators who were being led by the state’s deputy speaker of the house of assembly, Edison Ehie, and the chairman of the Ikwerre local government area.
They claimed that the party of Patrick Tonye-Cole, the APC’s nominee for governor, wanted to sneak fraudulent results sheets during the election.
In an interview with Obasanjonews24, Wali accused the state’s political leaders of setting up conditions in which youngsters may be mistreated for political benefit.
The teenagers wouldn’t be causing a public nuisance at the INEC headquarters for more than a week, he said, if they were gainfully employed.
“The sociological aspect of our problems, where the political elites deliberately and intentionally create a kind of scenario that will make it possible for people to be used for all kinds of not-so-good purposes, is one of the most fundamental reasons why we have that kind of situation,” says the author.
“To me, it is not unexpected that you have a large number of individuals who are willing to engage in public disturbance for a week or more; if they were actively seeking employment, they would not be present.” At least you will be guaranteed at least one meal each day if you go there.
If we claim that it’s a PDP problem, we are in denial. Beyond the PDP, it’s a greater problem that affects all of us as a people. Moreover, it concerns our nation and our country. We’ll probably be convinced that it can only occur in Port Harcourt, so we’ll be in denial about it.
Wali bemoaned the fact that so many residents of the state had remained silent about the situation and characterised the protest as a riot rather than a peaceful protest.
According to him, the APC will act in the same way that the PDP is acting if the positions are reversed.
The APC chief warned that if the problems in the state are not handled broadly and swiftly, they would grow to be a more serious issue. He attributed the problems in the state to institutional and sociological shortcomings.
We need to be clear that it’s not about the APC. Not APC, PDP, or SDP, but rather something else. not APC, PDP, or SDP, but rather something else. Social deterioration is the topic. And I believe we should be addressing these issues.
If we don’t deal with these problems, everything will blow up in our faces far sooner than we anticipate.
“In this nation, which I am aware of, there is an APC governor who has a tendency towards this approach, and there are plenty of APC followers who will respond in a similar manner if the positions were reversed. I want us to focus on it because that is the most pressing issue and where we are, regrettably. He continued
When Tonye-Cole, the APC’s candidate for governor of Rivers State, went to get Certified True Copies of the election results on Monday of last week to submit his petition to the election petition tribunal, which had a deadline of April 7, he was prevented from entering the INEC office by PDP supporters.
Even though Tonye Cole has submitted his case to the tribunal, the PDP protested again today.
