There was confusion late Sunday night as the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressive Congress, APC, produced two different gubernatorial candidates at the just concluded state primaries.
Senator Magnus Abe emerged the candidate of the Prince Peter Odike faction of the party through the Direct primary election that held across the 23 local government areas of the state.
Abe who is also the Senator representing Rivers South-East in the National Assembly polled a total of 144, 929 votes against Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs who polled a total of 3444 while Dr Dawari George polled 1606 votes and Mr Tonye Dele Cole polled 882.
However, after the Indirect primary election conducted by the faction loyal to the minister of transportation and the leader of the party in the state, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Tonye Cole emerged winner with a total of 3329 votes against Dr. Dawari George who polled 491 votes while Senator Magnus Abe got 1 vote and Dumo Lulu-Briggs secured a total of 38 votes. 18 of the votes cast were declared invalid.
Earlier on, Dumo Lulu-Briggs had called for the postponement of the primary saying that events leading to the governorship primary in Rivers State have witnessed several anomalies that have robbed it of the minimum acceptable standard that can guarantee its credibility.
Lulu-Briggs, in a statement issued on Sunday, stated that the Rivers State Executive Committee has openly supported and canvassed support for Arch. Tonye Cole, the preferred aspirant of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi.
He noted that State Delegates to the primary were not elected by party members in proper ward congresses but merely handpicked by the Rivers State Executive Committee.
According to the billionaire businessman, “In spite of the flawed process in which the so-called State Delegates were selected, the list of delegates and the guideline for the primary have not been made public.
The Rivers State chapter of the APC has been embroiled in crises after the May State Congresses threw up the Ojukaye Flag-Amachree led executive.
Senator Magnus Abe’s camp challenged the outcome of the May 5 ward congresses in court and obtained an injunction from the Rivers State High Court on May 10th which stopped the party from conducting future congresses.
However, the Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s camp disobeyed the court order and conducted the local government and state congresses.
Justice Nwogu of the High court subsequently declared the congresses that brought the Flag-Amachree led executive null and void but the exco challenged the nullification at the appeal court where the trial judge failed to vacate the judgement of the High Court.
However, the Flag-Amachree faction, on September 4, obtained a perpetual injunction from an Abuja High Court restraining the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (1st and 2nd Defendants) from ‘tampering with the mandates of the elected Officials/Delegates elected at the 1st Defendant’s Ward, Local Government and State Congresses in Rivers State on May 19, 20 and 21, 2018 respectively, either by nullifying, removing or in any way refusing to give effect to the outcome of the said congresses or by purporting to conduct another congress in respect of Rivers State.
The matter has since become an issue of legal confusion as both factions lay claims to legitimacy in the state.
It is yet to be seen which among the two candidates will be accepted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the 2019 general elections.
