Controversy has greeted
a leaked audio recording in which a voice bearing a striking similarity with
that of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, was heard admitting bribery and
threatening to kill electoral officers in the December 10 rerun elections in Rivers
State.
The All Progressives
Congress on Thursday said the leaked audio recording confirmed its worst fears
that the elections were rigged.
It noted that
revelations contained in the said recording, made public by an online
newspaper, Sahara Reporters, on Thursday, provided evidence of alleged
unwholesome practices.
The party also said the
audio recording was a pointer to the fact that the governor might have
compromised the integrity of the electoral process and the integrity of his
office as Chief Security Officer.
This was contained in a
statement signed by the APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi,
in Abuja.
He said, “The leaked
audio recording showing the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, admitting to
bribing some electoral officials and threatening to kill them if his
instructions were not followed, has confirmed the fears raised by the All
Progressives Congress in the countdown to the recently conducted December 10,
2016, legislative rerun elections in the State.
“Going by the revelations
from the leaked audio recording, it is obvious that Governor Wike might have
engaged in unwholesome conducts that might have compromised the integrity of
the electoral process and undermined his office as the Chief Security Officer
of a state.
“The only logical
conclusion from this, therefore, is that the electoral victories of the Peoples
Democratic Party might have been achieved through underhand dealings and
intimidation of officials.”
The statement recalled
that the APC alerted security agencies to reports of massive arm build-up and
sinister plots by Wike and the PDP.
It said, “On December
6, 2016, the APC alerted security agencies to reports of a massive arms
build-up and other sinister plots that Wike and the PDP planned to execute on
the day of the legislative rerun elections in Rivers State.
“Nigerians have watched
with grave concern how the process of the just concluded legislative rerun
elections has led to the deaths of ordinary citizens in the state, including
security officers. The statement that Governor Wike appeared to have made on
the record has now pointed directly at where responsibility should be placed
for the violence that attended the election.”
The APC also argued
that the audio recording provided evidence that the allegation by the Rivers
State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party of an assassination threat on
Wike and the allegation by Wike that APC governors funded violence in the state
during the election might have been deliberately contrived to hide the role the
governor played in the violence that attended the election.
It also urged security
agencies to do the needful and ensure that the sponsors and perpetrators of
violence, no matter how highly placed, were brought to justice.
But the Rivers State
Government has denied the allegation that Wike threatened to kill an official
of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The Rivers State
Commissioner for Information, Dr. Austin Tam-George, said on Thursday that the
governor never made any contact with INEC officials in person or through the
telephone.
Tam-George argued that
the online outfit, Saharareporters.com, engaged in an audio impersonation of
the governor, using a voice changer technology.
“We categorically
deny these latest allegations as a sick fabrication, an outright lie. Governor
Wike never made any contact with INEC officials in person or by telephone.
“Saharareporters.com is
the online propaganda bullhorn of the All Progressives Congress. Their
publications are typically false and the writers are professional hawkers of
fiction.
“No one would have
thought that the APC and its cowardly media allies would resort to an audio
impersonation of Governor Nyesom Wike, using a voice changer technology.
“The voice changer
technology is often used by teenagers mainly in South Korea and Japan to launch
innocent technological pranks at each other, mainly for laughs.
“The APC and Saharareporters.com are
inmates in the prison of their own lies. We reject the latest blackmail by the
APC,” he added. - Punch
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