Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State continued their protest on Tuesday at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Port Harcourt, the state capital, over the inspection of materials used in the previous general elections.
More State Assembly members joined the protest today, including the Leader of the House, Martins Amaewhule, the Deputy Speaker, Edison Ehie, and the Chairman of Ikwerre Ikwerre Local Government Area, Samuel Nwanosike.
In addition to the demands for joint inspection of electoral demands and issuance of Certified True Copies of Result Sheets, the PDP is demanding the arrest of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate, Tonye Cole for alleged murder.
They are accusing Cole of leading thugs to attack them during the protest on Monday, allegedly leading to the death of one person.
They said the party has submitted a petition to the Commissioner of Police seeking the arrest and prosecution of Cole.
They also presented an acknowledged copy of the PDP’s petition dated March 24 2923 in which the party demanded that INEC release the Certified True Copies of electoral materials.
They said the protest will be sustained to avoid a 2016 situation where evidence from the police was reportedly used to upturn the electoral victories of the PDP in the State at the Appeal Court and a similar situation in Imo State where Governor Hope Uzodimma was reportedly declared the winner of the governorship election on the evidence of the police.
They argue that “some corrupt police may have in their usual way” given fake evidence to the APC through the contact they had when their lawyers were arrested recently, to pass same to some corrupt INEC officials to substitute for the original results at the INEC office.
Efforts to get Cole’s reaction on the fresh allegation of murder by the PDP were not successful as of press time.