By Jimitota Onoyume

The Independent National  Electoral Commission,  INEC, could not conclude penultimate Saturday’s rerun elections for some seats in the national and Rivers State House of Assemblies in Rivers State, citing violence and threat to lives in eight local government areas.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Aniedi Ikoiwak, in a statement, listed Andoni, Bonny, Tai, Eleme, Gokhana, Khana, Etche  and AsariToru  as the LGAs  where elections were suspended.

The electoral body  released results for nine state constituencies and one House of Representatives constituency with the All Progressives  Congress,  APC, winning only the Opobo state constituency seat.

The elections were  allegedly marred  by violence in some parts of the state. A corps member , Mr Samuel Okonta, was  killed by suspected political thugs in Orashi axis. Two others reportedly lost their lives in Asari Toru local government. In Ogoni axis, two persons were  allegedly shot dead. One other person was shot dead in Obio Akpor local government area  of the state.

Blames game

•Vanguard correspondent Jimitota Onoyume in military helmet, vest on election duty

There has   been  condemnation of the killings that trailed the elections. The political class and INEC  traded blames over the violence. While the Commission accused the political class of desperation which necesitated the violence, politicians believed  shoddy arrangment of the electoral body created suspicion that gave room for  the violence.

For instance, voting materials were said to be still at some RAC centres at about 2 pm for  elections  that were  to have been concluded by 2pm in polling units with results declared.

At several polling units in Port Harcourt, the state capital, voting did not start until about 1pm. Governor Nyesom Wike accused INEC of shoddy preparations after casting his vote in his Rumiprikom village.

The delay in distribution of materials to several polling units heightened tension and swelled suspicion among party supporters. Some feared that the electoral body may have traded the materials.

There were also allegations of fake materials in some polling units. This situation was largely at the root of the crisis in Bodo, headquarters of Gokana local government area.

Secretary to Rivers State government, Mr Kenneth Kobani, said he had  altercation with  soldiers deployed to the area over  alleged  fake election materials.  According to him, he noticed some of the materials brought to the RAC in his area were fake and, as at 2pm, the materials had not even left the centre.

He said he was arrested by the soldiers on ground because he allegedly challenged the attempt to use the fake materials for the elections.

Politicians divided

Politicians were  divided on the role of soldiers and police deployed for the elections. Some accused the security agencies of being behind some of the killings. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,  in a statement by its Rivers State Chairman,  Mr Felix Obua, accused the military of providing cover for APC members to hijack materials, saying  some members of the PDP suffered for challenging  the soldiers. On its part, the APC alleged that the police aided the PDP to rig the elections.

Meantime, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, and the army, in separate statements, dismissed the allegations against their men as untrue.

Army monitors elections with journalists

On the day of the elections, the 2 Amphibious Brigade, Port Harcourt invited journalists to join  soldiers go round to monitor the polls.

The Brigade Commander,  Brigadier General Stephenson Olabanji, told his men to allow the journalists decide the areas to visit. The journalists resolved  to go to some of the flash point areas.

The heavilly armed convoy of the soldiers and journalists left the brigade headquarters at about 10 a.m, heading to Asari Toru local government area. Spokesman  for the Brigade, Captain Lazarus Eli, led the term.

Our convoy was on its way to Ikwerre local government area when some of us started receiving calls from news sources in Buguma of violence. There were allegations of shooting in Buguma which resulted in the death of one person.  Another call came in that a chieftain of one of the political parties allegedly left his ward to create problem at Abalama, a situation that resulted in the death of one person in the area.

Our convoy headed to Ikwerre local government area. On our way we saw a violent scene at Ward 4, Unit 8, Rumuodumayan in Obio Akpor local government area.

An  APC and his PDP rival  reportedly inflicted matchet cuts on each other. Theophilus Ndamartins of APC, who had a blood stained singlet on, said he was stabbed by a PDP member, while a PDP member, whose singlet was also stained with blood , Mr Chile Ekwe, alleged that he too was stabbed by suspected APC thugs,

At Ikwerre local government area, there were heavy presence of soldiers in Ubima, Ozuoha, Omagwa and several communities we drove through. The soldiers kept their distance from  polling units while policemen, who were not armed, were seen standing around  polling units.

Voters in the polling units visited were orderly. We returned to the barracks at about 230pm to  file our  stories.

Sunday Vanguard later gathered that there was trouble at the collation centre in Isiokpo  in Ikwerre local government area. Some politicians said there were attempts to hijack the process by some persons they styled fake soldiers until genuine military men came to save the process.

There was also allegation of attempt to hijack  results sheets by one of the political parties.

In a related development, there have been conflicting calls from the political class on the elections. While the APC leadership wanted the rerun elections cancelled, the PDP said INEC should release the results for the local government areas where collation  had been concluded and results announced.

The state government  has set up a judicial commission, headed by Justice Monima Danagogo, to investigate killings during the rerun elections.