Parties reject Wike's Order 21 as ploy to restrict opposition campaigns

Some political parties in Rivers State fired the governor of the state, Nyesom Wike's invocation of Order 21 which imposed a fee of 5 million naira on any political party seeking to use a school state public for campaign rallies.

Governor Wike on a statewide broadcast on Friday reminded politicians and political parties of Executive Order 21 prohibiting the use of public school structures and facilities for political rallies and imposed some of the 5 million naira for the use of any public school for campaigns.

But parties like the All Progressives Congress (APC), Labor Party (LP) and Action Alliance (AA) have condemned the imposition of the fee, describing it as a ploy by Governor Wike to reduce the political space of other political parties. especially the smaller ones in the holding of campaigns.

They claim that the governor is afraid of the level of opposition against the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) and is therefore looking for all sorts of underhanded schemes to gain an unfair advantage over the parties.

In his reaction, Darlington Nwauju, APC publicity secretary, called Order 21 “strange political campaign laws in Rivers State,” saying it violates election law and the Nigerian Constitution.

He said in response to the Nigerian Tribune, “We wish to draw public attention to Section 91 of the Elections Act 2022 which resonates with Section 40 of the Constitution. layman; "No political party in Nigeria shall be prevented from holding rallies, processions or meetings. It is also the duty of the Commissioner of Police in each State to provide adequate security cover for such rallies or meetings and also to resolve in a consultative manner any conflict of time and place between political parties."

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He thus stated that “no state government can change any section of the electoral law by issuing decrees extraneous to the electoral law. the use of the holder's power to intimidate opponents."

He asked, "Will the PDP in Rivers State pay the 5 million naira bail and write applications two weeks in advance before using a public school for gatherings?

"We suspect there is a grand conspiracy to deploy all kinds of underhanded tactics to intimidate political opponents in the state; to shrink political space, stifle every voice of reason, and upend every known democratic principle .

“We ask again if this decision by the state government does not make the recently signed peace agreement completely absurd?”

For his part, Dienye People, Chairman of the Labor Party, LP, said: "I see it as a way of depriving other parties from campaigning, that's how I see it. Why ask people to pay 5 million naira for facilities built with taxpayers money?

"It's unfair and you know most of these other small parties don't have those resources, indirectly you're telling them not to use the facilities. And obviously that's the only one they have because in rural areas you don't have event centers like that that you can use. There are only a few that are available.

"Previous governments understood this and allowed people to use the facilities, now Wike's government is trying to deprive people from campaigning. Maybe they are afraid of the force that is coming against them , especially the Labor Party, so they're scared. That's the only reason."

He said the party would not agree to keep a low profile, but would make enough noise and urge the relevant authorities to intervene and overturn the order.

"We're going to make noise about it like we already do, ask INEC, the police commissioner and all that, so they can intervene, maybe get the governor to reconsider his decision" , said Pepple.

In his own reaction, Bekee Anyalebechi, media assistant to Dawari George, the Action Alliance gubernatorial candidate, said his manager was unfazed by the charges because his mode of campaigning is way ahead of what Wike thinks is the best way for parties. solicit votes. "That is why he is not disturbed and will never be disturbed."

"His campaign is clinical in the sense that he will approach individual voters in Rivers State. He does not need to rent a stadium or a school. He plans to use coordinators in all government areas. local authorities in Rivers state Dawari has supporters who cross party lines so it is not he who has to reach out to people one by one but he will do so through his coordinators.

“Thus, simultaneously, Dawari will address the inhabitants of the 23 local government areas and the 24th, namely the non-natives. So he doesn't need to bring people because these other parties, why they think they need a big arena is to be...