Protesting Rivers APC candidates teargassed at INEC office

Some candidates of the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 governorship, House of Assembly and National Assembly elections in Rivers State were on Wednesday teargassed by security officials attached to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Abuja as they protested.

The candidates had gone to the Commission with a petition dated August 11 to protest the “consistent disobedience to tribunal orders for inspection of electoral materials by the Port Harcourt office of INEC.”

Accusing the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Gesila Khan, of working with the Peoples Democratic Party in the State to frustrate and truncate the APC cases in tribunals, they further alleged that Ms. Khan is disallowing them to have certified true copy of materials used during the elections.

The tribunal approved the inspection of the electoral materials by forensic experts, they said.

“We have made repeated efforts personally and through our counsels to see the Resident Electoral Commission, without success,” the candidates lamented in their petition obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

The APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, led other candidates to the Commission.
Others who were teargassed included Magnus Abe and APC state chairman, Ikanya Ibiamu.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted INEC spokesperson, Nick Dazang, he said he had no details of the incident.
Mr. Dazang said he was at a meeting when the incident happened.

Multiple calls to Mr. Dakuku were neither answered nor returned. He also did not reply a text message sent to him.