REC, DIG score election high, peaceful

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Mr Aniedi Ikowak, has hailed the peaceful conduct of the rerun legislative elections.

Aniedi made the remark while monitoring the election at  Rumuigbo, Obio/Akpor local government area.

He said reported cases of rumours on skirmishes would be investigated.

Also speaking, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations (DIG), Habila Joshak, equally scored the conduct of the election high.

He said contrary to some reports of violence, the exercise was generally peaceful.

Joshak also hailed the people of the state for conducting themselves orderly.

He urged the media to verify informtion before going to press.

At Rumuomasi, Obio/Akpor Local Government, the party agents also commended INEC on the conduct of the election, saying it was generally peaceful unlike how it used to be in recent times.

The agents, Mr Ikechi Okpobiri (PDP) and that of the APC who simply introduced herself as Miss Tina, spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

They said that the peace and the orderliness should be maintained.

But the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Theophilus Odagme, who was at the INEC office in Bori, Khana Local Government  complained of irregularities in the area.

Also, some journalists linked the level of success achieved in Saturday’s legislative re-run election to the heavy presence of security personnel.

Journalists who spoke to the NAN, said it would have been difficult to record such level of success without the presence of security forces.

Olalekan Ige, Editor of a Port Harcourt-based tabloid, said that movement of journalists to the different parts of the state would have been impossible without such security presence.

He said the deployment of huge security presence to the state was a strategic step by the Federal Government to ensure the success of the poll.

“We all know how volatile Rivers is, especially during the elections. Without such level of security, I can tell you that the elections would not have held.

“You will agree that as journalists, we would not have had the confidence to move around to do our jobs,’’ he said.

Another journalist, Ruskin Amadi, a radio reporter, said that the military was highly professional and helpful in areas where he monitored the elections.