Wike to Reps: Army staged coup against Rivers during election

TRACKING>>Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, yesterday told the Joint House of Representatives Committees on Army, Police, Human Rights and Justice that the Nigerian Army staged a coup against Rivers State during the 2019 general elections. Wike, who stated this yesterday at the Government House, Port Harcourt, when the lawmakers visited him, described the army’s actions as the worst in the nation’s democratic history.

The governor recalled that the army acted illegally because they were working to impose a pre-determined leadership on the state, saying: “It is really unfortunate. We all know that there was a coup, organised by the Nigerian Army in this state. In the history of this country, it has never happened where during elections, the army would kill people for no just cause. “Because they believe a particular person or a particular party must win, it doesn’t matter how many people die in the process. It was shown on national television stations.

We watched how the army invaded the electoral commission office.” Wike, who wondered why the General Officer Commanding 6 Division of the Nigerian Army had not been questioned, despite the negative roles he and his men played during the general elections, said: “The GOC here is a politician. Nothing has happened to him because he was sent for a specific purpose. If it was when the country was a country, you could not keep such GOC. He is sabotaging the security network.” Earlier, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Army, Rimande Shawule Kwewum said that were in the state to investigate cases of killings by the F-SARs based on a mo-tion by the member, representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency, Hon. Kingsley Chinda on the killing of Dr. Ferry Gberegbe during the general elections.

He said that the joint House of Representatives Committees was in the state on a fact-finding mission, adding that the Committees would allow all the stakeholders state their positions for the committee to arrive at the truth with a view to making relevant recommendations.

The governor also condemned the actions of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARs), which he described as a major anti-democratic force in the state, since the 2016 rerun elections. He alleged that the FSARs killed a PhD holder and Chartered Accountant in cold blood simply because they wanted to subvert the will of the people. The governor regretted that the Federal Government had never worked to assist the state government to fight insecurity. “This is the only state that the Federal Government has never assisted to fight insecurity.

Instead to team up with us and fight insecurity, they politicise it. Even, when we make recommendations, nothing will happen. I don’t know whether we are in a military regime or civil administration”, Wike further argued. He suggested that urgent measures should be taken to rejig the security architecture of the country, in view of the nationwide security challenges, even as the governor said that rather than addressing the security challenges facing the country, security agencies were busy moving against critics of security failures.