Violence erupted at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC on Monday, April 3, after members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state clashed in Port Harcourt, the state capital over the inspection of electoral materials.
According to Channels TV, chaos broke out when the APC Governorship Candidate in the March 18 poll, Tonye Cole, and members of his party arrived at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state for the inspection of materials used in the last election in the state. The APC members were forced to turn back by members of the PDP who were already on ground at the INEC office before their arrival. The situation caused pandemonium as the PDP members demanded the joint inspection of election results and the Certified True Copies of result sheets for the just-concluded 2023 general elections.
The PDP protesters had blocked both the waterlines and GRA areas of Aba road, the two major access points to the INEC head office. No car was able to drive through that stretch of Aba road from the ground lanes, while those on the GRA flyover were trapped as there was no exit route. The PDP protest was led by the Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie who was re-elected in the March 18 election and Samuel Nwanosike, the Chairman of the Ikwerre Local Government Area.
Though the party won the governorship and State Assembly elections, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly who jointly led the protest, demanded that INEC grant the party a joint inspection of the materials used in conducting the March 18 elections. The protesters believed that their demand would introduce the level of transparency needed to forestall unnecessary litigations and arguments
Apart from the demand for joint inspection of materials, some inscriptions on the placards displayed during the protest also request INEC to make available the Certified True Copies of results.
