Wike won 2019 guber election, AAC agent affirms

In a dramatic twist, the African Action Congress (AAC) state collation agent for the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Rivers State, Nenye Kocha, has affirmed Governor Nyesom Wike’s victory.

He told the election petition tribunal sitting in Port Harcourt yesterday that throughout the collation conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) between April 2 and 3, Wike remained in the lead.

Kocha, who is the party’s secretary in the state during cross-examination by counsel for the second respondent (Wike), Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), claimed that one Donatus Barikor from Gokana and Henry Iyala from Degema that testified as the AAC governorship candidate, Biokpomabo Awara’s collation agents were impostors “because there were no results collated for Gokana for instance.”

He revealed that during the poll, the AAC, which reportedly formed an alliance with the All Progressives Congress (APC), had only 418 agents across the 4442 units in the state.

According to him, “because the AAC was a new party, it only had four House of Assembly candidates and one governorship candidate for the March 9, 2019 election.”

He added: “We had just four House of Assembly candidates and one governorship candidate. Out of the 32 seats in the assembly, we only had four candidates. No candidate for National Assembly. We had collation agents in only 418 polling units across the 4442 polling units in the state. No result was declared for Abua/Odual and Gokana LGAs as at the time of collation. INEC conducted the election in strict compliance of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines.”

Kocha alleged that some of the witnesses initially presented in court by Awara were not members of his party.

He claimed that the AAC, which was formed in August 2018, only began preparation for the election two days to the exercise when the APC allegedly adopted Awara as its proxy candidate.

Following the defection of Awara’s running mate, Akpo Bomba Yeeh shortly after the election, the witness told the tribunal that the party no longer had a deputy governorship candidate.

He said the AAC only won in Akuku-Toru and Oyigbo council areas by virtue of the results declared by the electoral umpire.