LG poll: Rivers losers reject tribunal’s N5m bond demand

Some Labour Party candidates in the recently concluded chairmanship and councillorship elections in Rivers State have rejected the N5m security bond imposed by the Local Government Election Tribunal as a prerequisite for challenging the August 30 poll results.

The candidates also alleged that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission  had yet to release official result sheets, thereby frustrating their petitions.

The LP chairmanship candidate for Bonny LGA, Dr. Preye Tonye, described the bond as “illegal” and a calculated attempt to deny justice.

RSIEC’s refusal to release result sheets for Bonny LGA, despite initial declarations, is delaying our challenge of the kangaroo declaration of the APC candidate, Abiye Blessing Pepple. I am asking the tribunal to direct RSIEC to declare me the winner and issue my Certificate of Return.”

Similarly, the LP chairmanship candidate for Emuoha LGA, Ngozi Miller, argued that the bond was designed to shut out financially weaker candidates.

“The electoral tribunal’s requirement of a N5m bond is alarming and unacceptable. It effectively disenfranchises candidates who cannot afford it, denying them access to justice. Seeking redress is our constitutional right, and such a hefty bond undermines that right,” he said.

In the same vein, the LP candidate for Degema LGA, Isoboye Harry, accused RSIEC of “disgracing democracy” by withholding results.

“Seventeen political parties contested this election. Where are the results? You announced your winner, but who came second or third? People voted for us, but RSIEC is refusing to release the records. It is shameful. No exam is written without results being released,” Harry lamented.

But RSIEC dismissed the allegations.

The RSIEC’s Commissioner in Charge of Political Parties Affairs, Monitoring and Security, Prof. Godfrey Woke, insisted that results were duly released at polling units and given to all candidates.

“Results were released at the polling units, and each candidate got copies. That is the truth. In Ahoada West, for instance, only the original sheet was taken, but duplicates were given to all candidates. If they want the collated and signed tabulated results, they should apply to the commission,” he explained.

Woke also confirmed that the polling unit result sheets are valid for filing cases at the tribunal.

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