“Proceedings were served yesterday, because INEC has shown us that it is no longer independent. How else can you explain the speed with which they acted after a judgement by Omotosho that said we should not only be removed from the ballot, but we should also be barred from campaigning? People should learn to fear God," Prince Tonye Princewill, Director, Strategic Communications of the Tonye Cole Campaign Organisation, said.
The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has served contempt proceedings on Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Prince Tonye Princewill, Director, Strategic Communications of the Tonye Cole Campaign Organisation, disclosed this to newsmen on Friday.
According to Princewill, the INEC Chairman will explain to the court “why he should not be jailed for disobeying subsisting court orders and excluding APC in Rivers State.”
He said: “Proceedings were served yesterday, because INEC has shown us that it is no longer independent. How else can you explain the speed with which they acted after a judgement by Omotosho that said we should not only be removed from the ballot, but we should also be barred from campaigning? People should learn to fear God.
“Now that same Omotosho’s order has been stayed, yet two weeks later, we’re still waiting for our rights to be restored and INEC is comfortable that it has not been given to us. To make matters worse, the Supreme Court last week, threw out the appeal against the stay judgement. So what is still holding INEC? They cannot exclude us. But if they do, they will face the legal consequences. We can either do this election once or they will conduct it twice. The law is on our side.”
He thanked Rivers people for showing restraint and implored them to come out and vote as “who becomes President is who determines the leaders in the state”.
“Do not be distracted by INEC. If they do not put us on the ballot, that election will be repeated. It will not be an election. But the presidential is not in doubt. All states must put in their quota towards victory. That includes us too here in Rivers State,” he said.
Members of the APC in Rivers State also staged a protest on Thursday at the INEC office to demand inclusion of its candidates for elective positions in the state.