How PDP thugs attacked me at INEC office — Tonye Cole

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the
March 18 governorship election in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has accused the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of sending thugs to attack him and his team to
prevent them from accessing the office of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) in Port Harcourt on Monday.

Cole said he and some leaders of his party were at the INEC
office to obtain documents used for the election to file a petition to
challenge the declaration of the PDP candidate, Siminialayi Fubara, as the
winner of the election but were attacked by thugs allegedly sent by the PDP.

Speaking with Channels Television in Port Harcourt, Cole
said he was assaulted by thugs whom he said pelted him with water, food and
stones until he got injured.

He said, “We are supposed to be in a democracy and one of
the tenets of democracy is that after an election, INEC being supposedly an
impartial umpire will have documents and these documents are available to
everybody who participated in the election. These are critical documents which
when we take to an electoral tribunal, we will build our case upon that to the
electoral tribunal.

“On Friday, we were at INEC, and we asked for these
documents, but they have not given us a single one. We said we were coming back
today (Monday) and because we said we are coming back today, the PDP organised
thugs everywhere to prevent us from getting to the INEC office.

“I wasn’t deterred and so I went with my party chairman, the
women leader, the youth leader, and senior officials of the APC to the INEC
office.

“They had barricaded the road from GRA Junction, everywhere
boys, girls. They began to assault me, I came out and a woman began to drag my
shirt, they pulled me from the back, first, they were throwing water then they
began to throw food and the next minute they started throwing stones.

“The next thing after that, we started hearing gunshots, it
took my security people to forcefully evict me. They destroyed our vehicles,
they injured me. They slapped me, they punched me, they pulled my shirt, they
dragged me and then threw stones at me until I was injured in the back,” Cole
narrated.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the
March 18 governorship election in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has accused the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of sending thugs to attack him and his team to
prevent them from accessing the office of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) in Port Harcourt on Monday.

Cole said he and some leaders of his party were at the INEC
office to obtain documents used for the election to file a petition to
challenge the declaration of the PDP candidate, Siminialayi Fubara, as the
winner of the election but were attacked by thugs allegedly sent by the PDP.

Speaking with Channels Television in Port Harcourt, Cole
said he was assaulted by thugs whom he said pelted him with water, food and
stones until he got injured.

READ ALSO: Gunshots As APC, PDP Members Clash In Port
Harcourt Over Inspection Of Electoral Materials

He said, “We are supposed to be in a democracy and one of
the tenets of democracy is that after an election, INEC being supposedly an
impartial umpire will have documents and these documents are available to
everybody who participated in the election. These are critical documents which
when we take to an electoral tribunal, we will build our case upon that to the
electoral tribunal.

“On Friday, we were at INEC, and we asked for these
documents, but they have not given us a single one. We said we were coming back
today (Monday) and because we said we are coming back today, the PDP organised
thugs everywhere to prevent us from getting to the INEC office.

“I wasn’t deterred and so I went with my party chairman, the
women leader, the youth leader, and senior officials of the APC to the INEC
office.

“They had barricaded the road from GRA Junction, everywhere
boys, girls. They began to assault me, I came out and a woman began to drag my
shirt, they pulled me from the back, first, they were throwing water then they
began to throw food and the next minute they started throwing stones.

“The next thing after that, we started hearing gunshots, it
took my security people to forcefully evict me. They destroyed our vehicles,
they injured me. They slapped me, they punched me, they pulled my shirt, they
dragged me and then threw stones at me until I was injured in the back,” Cole
narrated.