APC Chieftain, Eze Challenges Rivers LG Election Results, Claims No Votes Cast

Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a prominent member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has praised the people of Rivers State for boycotting what he described as a sham Local Government Area election held last Saturday.

In a statement released to NIGERIA NEWS 247 on Thursday, Eze expressed confidence that the election results would be overturned by the courts, citing irregularities in how the election was conducted.

He alleged that the election was managed by a team unlawfully appointed by the Sole Administrator, Ibok-Ette Ibas, and pointed out that the response from residents across all 23 Local Government Areas signaled a clear rejection of what he called “political illegality.”

According to Eze, there were only 23 candidates contesting for the chairmanship positions—each aligned with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike. He revealed that result sheets from all polling units were allegedly hijacked and stored in a private hotel in Port Harcourt, where figures were allegedly manipulated and distributed.

He urged the public to disregard what he termed “cooked-up trash” being circulated as election results, insisting there was no genuine election but rather a rigged allocation of votes to Wike’s allies.

“It is shocking that in areas such as Emohua, Ikwerre, Obio-Akpor, and Port Harcourt City—where voters reportedly boycotted the election—the results declared by the electoral body, run by an unlawful team led by a man from Cross River, showed chairmanship candidates scoring hundreds of thousands of votes,” Eze said.

He cited Emohua Local Government as an example, where ad-hoc staff of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) were allegedly seen thumbprinting ballot papers for the APC, despite no voters turning up. He accused factional APC chairmanship candidate Chidi Lloyd of being declared winner with over 100,000 votes.

“For an uncontested election to be manipulated this way, it is clear that Wike has never truly won an election,” Eze claimed. “In fact, the FCT Minister lost his polling unit to the Labour Party during the 2023 presidential election and failed to deliver for Tinubu. Yet, at the collation center, results were mysteriously changed.”