Early results from Rivers show voters did not toe Wike’s line

Early results of voting in Port Harcourt (Phalga and Obio/Akpor) today indicate that voters in the state capital did not toe the line of Governor Nyesom Wike who appealed to them to vote his choice of incoming president.

This is because whereas Wike asked his people to vote Bola Ahmed Tinubu instead of Atiku, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the results show massive voting for Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).

Early results showed huge disparity in favour of the LP.

Example, Rumuodara Unit 25 in Obio/Akpor was counted and announced as LP 236, ZLP 1, APC 3, PDP 2, and Invalid Vote 1. Uzoigwe Primary School Ward 9 unit 6: LP 253, PDP 8, APC 4.

This pattern continued across the state capital. Soon, thugs began moving round to force INEC officials to stop counting or continuing voting in areas that started late. The crowd refused.

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When this did not work, the thugs insisted that results should not be entered until they reached the RAC centres.

In Elelenwo Ward 3B Unit 9 (Rumuodani), which has huge population, the thugs tried to stop counting. When the voters resisted them, they called for more thugs who came and started a fight by 8.30pm. They forced the INEC officials to carry the ballot boxes to ‘RAC’.

By that time, the unit had announced the results with LP having 399, APC 9, PDP 14. This was the pattern in most units of the city that had been announced.

The snag however, was the refusal of Polling Unit officials to upload the results right there as the guidelines stipulated. Fight took place in many units in the state capital over this disagreement.

The party agents all have the results and the voters have been warning against tampering with what they already know and have.

The early results therefore, indicate that the voters have not intervened in the matter between Governor Wike and Atiku, choosing to vote their own choice.