Testimonies at Rivers election petitions tribunal -By Simeon Nwakaudu

Friday October 2, 2015 will remain evergreen in the annals of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.  Also on Saturday,  October 3, 2015, the Rivers  State Commander of the  Department of  State  Services, DSS,  for the April 11 Governorship  election, Mr Emmanuel  Phillips,  declared  that  the   election was peaceful without  any report  or observation of violence  during  the  exercise. He led the DSS operations for the entire Rivers State on April 11 and physically monitored the governorship election in 12 LGAs. Like the senior police officers,  he explained that soldiers were only deployed to specific locations,  not to polling units. He told the Tribunal that the junior DSS operatives invited by Rivers APC, lied on oath.His evidence that was election held peacefully and successfully.

October 2 was a day  that the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal subpoenaed two very senior police officers to clarify the situation on the testimonies of few soldiers, DSS personnel and mobile policemen invited by the Rivers State APC to testify at the tribunal. The two senior police officers are: Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Akuki Kenneth who was an Area Commander in charge of Bori Zonal Police Command comprising nine Local Government Areas during the April 11 Governorship Election and Chief Superintendent  of  Police, CSP, Uche  Mike Chukwuma  who served as Divisional Police Officer for Ahoada  East Local Government Area on election  day.

As soon as ACP Kenneth took his oath at the witness stand, to testify at the mountain for the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, the Rivers State APC Legal Team raised a vehement objection urging the tribunal to stop the senior police from testifying. Lead Rivers APC counsel,  Akin Olujimi ( SAN ) appealed to the tribunal to rule that the ACP should tender his report and leave. He lost the battle to stop the witness of truth as the tribunal overruled him.

However, a few former commissioners who served under former Governor Amaechi who were in court dashed out to place calls. Outside the court, the Inspector-General of Police sent a team led by another Assistant Commissioner of Police to stop the police officers from giving evidence.  The timely intervention of lawyers and journalists outside the court  stopped  the Inspector-General of Police team from truncating justice. The two senior police officers declared in open court that the soldiers, DSS personnel and mobile policemen were mere fiction of experts who concocted stories about an election they played limited roles in. They stated that the governorship election was peaceful in the ten local government areas they monitored. There was a mild drama in court at a point when CSP Chukwuma reeled out comprehensive data that baffled the lead counsel of Rivers APC.  They accused him of reading from a prepared speech.  He gave them the file that contained his subpoena and they studied same and  discovered it was blank.

Testifying  at the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Friday,  the Assistant  Commissioner  of  Police  who served  in Rivers State during  the  governorship  election  confirmed  that during  his two-phased  patrol,  he observed  that  soldiers were  only deployed to  the  border of the local government  areas.  He said  no soldiers  came to  the  polling  units as it was reserved  for  the  policemen  and other conventional  security  agencies.

He said : “Within  the  period of my patrols, I saw soldiers  in clusters at the borders of  the  local  government  areas.  They were never at the polling  units”. He said the local government  areas  under his supervision  on election  day includes  Khana,  Gokana,  Okirika,  Ogu/Bolo, Eleme, Bonny,  Opobo /Nkoro,  Andoni and Tai. He said he monitored election  in Khana, Gokana, Ogo/Bolo,  Eleme, Okirika and Tai in two phases of the election,  with no case of violence  or threat to  peace reported to  him the policemen  on duty.
He added that  in the riverine  areas where he did not patrol,  he received  reports that the elections went on peacefully  from the respective  Divisional Police  Officers. The local  government  areas  are: Bonny, Opobo/Nkoro and Andoni. He berated DSP Yusuf  Buba  of the Police  Mobile  Force for lying on  oath before the tribunal as he was only deployed  to  the  INEC  office in Bori to provide security,  hence he did not patrol. He said that under the police  disciplinary  procedure,  if DSP  Buba Yusuf  had moved out of his duty post he would have  been  sanctioned.  He declared that DSP Buba  never left his duty post, hence he lied when he claimed  that  he saw people  engaged in  illegal  thumb printing. He said if the policeman had seen any illegal  thumb  printing,  he would have  arrested  such  persons.

He said  in the course of  his patrol on election  day, he observed  that  there was no violence,  accreditation  took place  and that he also  observed  voters on queue  casting their ballot.  In his testimony, CSP Chukwuma said the election in Ahoada East LGA was peaceful as he monitored the entire council with two detachment of Policemen.  He said that his first phase of monitoring was held alongside the Electoral Officer of the area, Mrs Beauty Anuebunwa without any incident of violence.

•Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Rivers State Governor.