Rivers lingering protest shows institutional failures – APC Chieftain

By Musa Baba Adamu

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Wenenda Wali says the situation in the state, where teeming Rivers youths have been protesting at the state head office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, is a problem that is beyond the Peoples Democratic Party.
The PDP have since last Monday, started a protest at the INEC state office in Rivers State, demanding a joint inspection of election materials with the APC.
The protesters who were led by the Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Edison Ehie and the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, Samuel Nwanoskie, barricaded the Port Harcourt Aba expressway.
They accused the APC guber candidate, Patrick Tonye-Cole and his party of wanting to smuggle fake results sheets in the process.
Wali in an interview, accused political elites in the state of creating scenarios where youths can be used for wrong purposes or their political gains.
He noted that if the youths were gainfully employed, they will not be at the INEC office creating public nuisance for over a week.
“One of the most fundamental reasons why we have that kind of situation is the sociological part of our challenges, where the political elites deliberately and intentionally creating a kind of scenario that will make it possible for people to be used for all kinds of not so good purposes.
“It is not surprising to me that you have an army of people who can make themselves available for public nuisance for a week or more, because if they were gainfully employed, they would not be there. If you go there, at least you are sure of at least one meal a day.
“We live in denial if we say it’s a PDP thing. It’s a bigger challenge, a bigger issue that is beyond the PDP but it’s about us as a people. And it’s about us as a country and as a nation. Because we will probably be deluding ourselves that it can only happen in Port Harcourt.”
Wali described the demonstration as a riot, and nothing of a peaceful protest, lamenting that so many people in the state have kept mute over the situation.
He said if the roles were to be reversed, the APC will do the same thing the PDP is doing.
The APC Chieftain, who blamed the issues in the state on sociological and institutional failures, stated that if the issues are not addressed in general and quickly, it will amount to a bigger problem.