APC retrieves confiscated election petition materials from Police

The Chibuike Amaechi faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State seems to have found jubilation for once since the election woes began.

The faction led by Emeka Beke with Tonye Cole as governorship candidate says it has retrieved all their materials confiscated by the Nigeria Police in Port Harcourt.

This was after they announced the release of their three lawyers and five workers working on their petition to the Tribunal.

The police swooped on them Saturday morning April 2, 2023, saying later that they had intelligence that the team was printing fake INEC results.

The Police Commissioner, Okon Effiong said they were taking the materials to INEC’s experts to examine the documents.
This triggered nationwide condemnation especially by those wondering what offence a party preparing filing for election petition had committed and if it was good to hand over an opponent’s documents yet to be filed at the tribunal.

Cole had vowed to remain at the state police command to watch over the materials, saying he would never allow anything to tamper with the sensitive documents. He said those things were original results from the polling units which would prove who really won the elections.

Now, reports from the Cole camp said he practically slept at the State CID to make sure that the documents were not tempered with.

“The Police said they want to make an inquiry into our private documents and our laptops under the supervision of INEC ICT personnel. We said that can’t happen.

“We cleared the police that INEC Nigeria will be a Defendant in our case and as such cannot go into our privacy. It’s illegal and our disposition stood firm.”

The report said the INEC staff and ICT sent to SCID have checked all the hardcopy documents and none was faulty or fake. It has now trashed the claim of the police that the APC was doing something sinister.

“We have successfully retrieved all materials in safe condition. We are going to court to reclaim our mandate. This is where we are now and the enemies are jittery,” a source, Charles Cotterell, said.

The state publicity secretary of the APC, Darlington Nwauju, confirmed the report.