At last, Wike declared winner of Rivers poll; Atiku, Obi, PDP, Secondus, Okowa congratulate Gov. on victory

By Precious Akutamadu, Emmanuel Oloniruha, Ifeanyi Olannye

Gov. Nyesom Wike, the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday, won his re-election bid, having been declared winner of the March 9, election in Rivers.

Spontaneous jubiliation erupted in Rivers State following the declaration, while an avalanche of congratulatory messages have been pouring in for the activist governor.

Leading the long line of those sending in congratulatory messages are the Presidential candidate of the PDP in the last election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his Vice Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi. Others include the Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, The PDP as a party and equally re-elected Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.

Prof. Teddy Adias, the State Returning Officer, who doubles as the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Otueke, Bayelsa, declared Wike winner of the controversial Rivers governorship poll in Port Harcourt.

The governor emerged winner with a total of 886,264 votes, while Mr Biokpomabo Awara, the governorship candidate of the African Alliance Congress (AAC) trailed behind him with 173,859 votes.

Adias declared the total margin between the two contestants as 712,405.

He said the total number of registered voters was 3,048,741, accredited voters 1,130,445, valid votes cast 1,102,823, total votes cast=1,123,840 and voided votes, 249,324.

Mr Chukwunenye Kocha, the AAC party agent said that the party would study the results before taking any decision.

Kocha, however, said that the party stood for peace.
He urged the people of Rivers and other political parties to maintain peace.

Atiku in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja described Wike’s victory  as hard earned re-election.

“It gives me much pleasure to see a political force for good, such as yourself, overcome the anti-democratic forces of dictatorship and oppression.

“The PDP is blessed to have a political gladiator, such as yourself on our side.

“I am favoured to count you, Gov. Wike, as my friend and brother, and Rivers as my second home.”

Atiku said that as Wike’s victory was savoured by men of goodwill all over Nigeria, he was   sure that the governor would continue the pattern of good works for which he has become known.

“Nigeria needs men like you. Men who can remain firm, unbowed and resolute in the face of trying times.

“You have proved that you have character under trial, and not just when the going is good.

“Such refinement will stand you in good stead as, by the grace of God, you finish the good work you have started in Rivers.”

On his part, Obi said that all lovers of democracy must salute the resilience of the people of Rivers who stood in defence of their votes.

He said that the people would not have held on to Gov. Wike if he had not made appreciable impact in their lives through delivery of good governance.

He advised Wike to remain focused on the delivery of democracy dividends to his people and not get distracted by the needless bickering and provocation that greeted the election.

The former Anambra governor said that the people of Rivers didn’t need to go through the stress given the outstanding performance of their governor in the last four years.

From Asaba, Gov.  Okowa of Delta in his congratulatory message conveyed in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Charles Aniagwu, said that indeed, in a true democracy, power belonged to the people.

“Although the Rivers State Governorship Election took a long and difficult time, at the end, the will of the people prevailed.

“I must thank the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) for doing the right thing in ensuring that the true results that emanated from the units were duly collated,” Okowa said.

He commended Rivers people for unflinching loyalty and support for the PDP, and assured them that Wike would deliver more projects for them in his second tenure.

“On behalf of the government and people of Delta State, I congratulate my dear brother and colleague, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, on his well-deserved victory in the just-concluded Rivers Governorship Election.

“I also congratulate our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers and all our teeming supporters nationwide, for this well-deserved victory.

“From the margin of victory, it is safe to say that power indeed belongs to the people and they decide whom to freely give it to,” he said.

Wike was declared winner of the poll by INEC on Wednesday after a resumed collation of ballots of the poll held across the country on March 9.

Collation of the votes was suspended by INEC, which cited violence and other electoral irregularities during the election in the state, as reason for the action.

The PDP in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan,
described Wike’s re-election as “victory for the people of Rivers and triumph of good over evil.”

Ologbondiyan said that Wike’s record 700,000 votes margin of victory “speaks volume of the resilience of the people of the state in the face of intimidations, harassment and manipulations by oppressive forces”.

He said that the victory reinforced the confidence of the people in the resoluteness of asserting their democratic choice of leadership as well as standing in defence of their mandate to the end.

The party’s spokesman added that the victory also demonstrated that the will of the people would always prevail against every form of suppression.

He said that All Progressives Congress (APC) wanted to forcefully take over control of the state against the wish of the people.

“The party salutes and venerates all compatriots who were killed by agents of the oppressors during the election. These compatriots did not die in vain and those who shed their innocent blood will surely be brought to book.

“The PDP commends Wike, the people of Rivers and all lovers of democracy across the board for standing firm until the end to hand this disgraceful defeat to the enemies of the people.”

Ologbondiyan also congratulated all PDP candidates, who won elections at all levels across the country.

He assured those pursuing their mandates at the tribunals that the party was fully behind them, “given that they all have water tight cases at the courts”.

Similarly, PDP National Chairman, Rivers State-born Uche Secondus, commended the resilience of party members across the country, particularly the elected ones, for extraordinary show of capacity to resist and withstand brutality, blatant intimidation, harassment and political terrorism.

In a statement issued by his Media Aide, Mr Ike Abonyi, he said that PDP was proud of all its flag bearers and their conduct during and after the elections.

“By your peaceful conduct in the face of provocations, you have demonstrated truly that democracy is in your DNA and this we will continue to exhibit until all non-democrats pretending to be one are flushed out of our polity.”

Secondus said that the victorious PDP flag-bearers did not only contest with APC, but with some INEC and military personnel allegedly compromised.

He said that the introduction of inconclusive and suspension of polling in the country’s electoral process was ostensibly to aide APC to victory through supplementary balloting.

Secondus said that the APC, however, could not achieve its aim in Rivers, Bauchi, Adamawa, Sokoto and Benue States because of the doggedness of committed democrats in the PDP.

He particularly commended PDP governors for their re-election which, according to him, revealed their overwhelming performances in the last four years in their various states.

“From 11 states when we started this journey in December, 2017 to 13 before the election and now, 15, with a very high hope of victory coming our way in five other states of Osun, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano and Nasarawa.”

Secondus said that the strategic spread of the PDP victories spoke volumes of the character and strength of the party as the only true national platform in the country.