Tonye Cole, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, on Friday expressed displeasure over the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to obey the court order directing it to release to the party the Certified True Copies (CTC) of documents used in the governorship elections.
Cole who described the action as suspicious, disclosed this when some members of the party stormed INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt.
The opposition candidates had alleged that INEC was deliberately frustrating them from approaching the elections petitions tribunal to prove their case, as they have only 21 days to file their petitions.
He said: “I am not happy at all. We have come to INEC to express our deep frustration about what is going on. Essentially, we are time-bound. We have 21 days from the time the elections were declared to file our petitions.”
He said for the House of Assembly candidates who want to challenge the election, two weeks had gone and that INEC was yet to make the materials available.
He added, “They have not released one single CTC document and we have to prepare a brief and prepare for the tribunal.
“We have got court orders. They have been ignored. It tells me that something is going on. I believe that at this point in time the onus is on INEC as an independent election administrator to be fair. I am very suspicious.”
On his part, the APC Legal Adviser, Dike Iheanhichukwu, told newsmen that the party would shut down the commission’s office on Monday if their demands were not met.
According to him: “We have made applications asking INEC Rivers State to oblige us of CTC of EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and other related EC series as concerned elections. INEC has not been able to give us a single document. And what we are talking about is going to the Tribunal to seek redress. So what INEC is doing is intentional.
“I have here the court order compelling INEC to allow us to inspect documents, for them to give us the CTC. This order has been duly served on INEC. They have decided to disobey the law.
“The INEC National Chairman and all security agencies should hear this. INEC should give us what we want because it is our right to file our petition and we must do so. If they don’t do that by Monday, we will barricade this place. No worker will enter here. They should be ready to kill all of us.”
