Democracy Day: INEC is destroying the foundation of democracy – Governor I

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has declared that the state is not celebrating Democracy Day because the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has destroyed the foundation of democracy by plotting to allocate legislative seats in the state.

The governor also declared that his administration will deliver more pro-people projects and programmes in his second year in office.

According to Simeon Nwakaudu, Special

Assistant to the Governor on Electronic Media, Wike was speaking during a thanksgiving mass to mark the first year anniversary of his administration at the Our Lady of Holy Rosary of the Catholic Institute of West Africa, CIWA, in Port Harcourt on Sunday. Governor Wike said that INEC has perfected plans to allocate legislative seats in Rivers State instead of conducting the inconclusive rerun elections in the State.

He said: “We will not celebrate democracy because INEC wants to determine who will represent Rivers State. After two months of cancellation of elections, so that it can allocate some seats to APC and others to PDP. Is that democracy?

“We beg INEC to hasten to conduct elections in the remaining seats. We want our representatives in the Senate, we want our representatives in the House of Representatives. We are not saying that INEC should allocate seats to us. We don’t want allocation, we want voting.

“We will not accept allocation of seats. We will only accept elections for the remaining seats”.

On his first year in office, Governor Wike said despite the challenges faced by his administration, he performed creditably , ensuring that the people enjoyed the dividends of democracy.

He said that the successes already recorded will be surpassed in his second year in office.

“This is one year, you have not seen anything as far as development is concerned. In our second year, more development will be witnessed across the state”, he said.

He informed that the administration has taken measures to save funds through biometrics to determine the true number of civil servants in the employment of the state government.

He said that the state government has already paid the April salaries of the 13000 civil servants who have completed their biometrics.

According to the governor, only civil servants who have done their biometrics will henceforth receive their salaries.

He added that all 54000 civil servants must physically present themselves for biometrics before they are considered to be employees of the Rivers State Government.

On security, Governor Wike said that he has provided the needed logistics for Security Agencies to improve security across the state. He noted that he has received assurances that in the coming months, security will improve.

He noted that nobody is above the law in the state, pointing out that anybody that commits a crime will be diligently prosecuted.

The church service had in attendance leaders of the state.