Rivers State Labour Party (LP) gubernatorial candidate for the last election, Prince Tonye Princewill, has denied claims that he was joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest at the tribunal, the declaration of Chief Nyesom Wike as governor-elect of the state. Rivers State APC chairman, Davies Ikanya, had in a recent statement congratulated some political parties, including the LP in the state for joining it to contest Wike’s election at the tribunal. But Princewill in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday and signed by his media aide, Wabiye Idoniboyeobu, urged the public to ignore the claim by the APC, saying is not true. The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a recent statement credited to the Rivers State APC chairman, Dr Ikanya, congratulating gubernatorial candidates including that of the LP, for joining its gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, to challenge the results of the just concluded elections at the election tribunal. “We want to state it clearly, that Prince Princewill has no intention of visiting the election tribunal. His decision not to go, was taken and made public many weeks ago after wide consultations. “In his words: ‘We are not inclined to go down the road of a huge legal expense to pursue “justice” in court since a repeat election, if it were to come, may only reproduce an even bloodier outcome which will also too be the subject of litigation. “Where will it end? In spite of the flaws in the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, still went ahead to announce a winner. As law abiding citizens, we can not stop him but we promise him, we will always be here to remind him (Wike), Rivers State must always come first. God is not sleeping.”
