The candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Rivers South East Senatorial district, Ambassador Oji Ngofa, has vowed to contest the results from the just concluded National Assembly election, in which he lost to Senator Barry Mpigi of the Peoples’ Democratic Party.
Ngofa, in a statement on Tuesday, urged his supporters to remain calm as he “spearheads the task of recovering their stolen mandate.”
The statement reads: “My dear people of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, please allow me to express my profound gratitude to you for your resilience, courage, dedication, and commitment to our course, especially in the face of threat, intimidation and harassment by those who do not want our society to progress. I am humbled and overwhelmed by your show of love to me, and your sacrifice for the sake of our people despite receiving no material or pecuniary benefit. Your calls, goodwill messages, prayers and solidarity to our course is well noted, well received, most appreciated, and will never be forgotten.
“Please allow me to state, without equivocation and prevarication, that after preliminary collation of results received from our various polling unit agents across the Senatorial District, the trend shows that we enjoyed your overwhelming support and won the election convincingly. Unfortunately and most regrettably, some antidemocratic elements within the Independent National Electoral Commission connived with the opposition, who suffered a total and complete widespread rejection across the length and breadth of the senatorial District, including their own Local Government Area, to manipulate, mutilate, distort and concoct figures in a desperate bid to steal your mandate and subvert the will of the people. This is not acceptable!
“My solemn promise to you is that I will spearhead the task of recovering your stolen mandate and restore your wishes as a people. This is a challenge we can undertake on behalf of the people, for if I cannot do this, then it would mean that I wasn’t qualified and prepared to represent you in the first place.
“I, therefore, urge you to remain calm and focused, keep us in your prayers, and by the Grace of Almighty God, light shall triumph over darkness, and the politics of me-first shall bow down to quality representation that reflects and projects the collective will of our people. My spirit is not dampened, and yours should not either. For it is said that the path to liberation is never easy, it takes a lot of effort, and like a River that meets many obstacles, it finds its own way through strength, courage and determination. Rivers Southeast Senatorial District and the entire state, in general, shall be liberated.
“Thank you and remain blessed.”
