Dr. Dakuku Peterside, Governorship candidate of APC in 2015 Rivers State elections, has expressed confidence in his party winning this weekend’s legislative elections based on the neutral role of the security and electoral agencies.
Speaking in an interview, Peterside also flayed the recent spate of violence which he described as barbaric, horrendous and inhuman.
His words, “Some politicians in Rivers State believe they must get power at all cost and that is the root cause of the insecurity in Rivers State today. People are slaughtered, beheaded, burnt, clubbed to death daily in the state and nobody is saying anything about it. The state government has gone to sleep when it comes to security as if it is not part of their responsibility”.
He said further, “The situation in Rivers today is tragic, terrible, horrendous, frightening, simply inhuman. This is not who we are in Rivers State; 24 persons were killed in one night at Omoku, 4 persons killed in Obibi Etche in one day, somebody burnt alive in Buguma, another person buried alive in Gokana, someone clubbed to death in Opobo and so on and so forth. What a gory tale fit for primitive societies. It is not only worrisome but it diminishes our humanness”.
Speaking about the military in some parts of the state, he said their presence is justifiable and urged the military to act within rules of engagement.
He said, “Military presence in the state is more than justifiable and the story line being peddled in some quarters that the military are killing people is not true. What you have been hearing are stories by some selfish politicians who want the Nigerian military out of the area to enable them have their own army to continue to hold sway to the detriment of the ordinary people”.
…APC will win all Senate, House, State Assembly seats
Now, the Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Peterside said that the judgement of the Supreme Court, which upheld the election of Governor Nyesom Wike has deepened the pains of the people of Rivers State.
Speaking to reporters when the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) visited communities where members of the party were murdered in the state, he called on the federal government to rise up to the occasion and provide security to the people of the state, promising that the next elections would be done without violence and APC would win all the assembly seats.
He said, “Our people have been brutally killed. Gruesome killing is our experience in the state, but the APC has remained resilient. But the days of killings are over. APC is very prepared for the election; all we need now is security to give the electorates safety.”
Buhari must end shameful genocide against APC members in Rivers – Oni
Speaking during the visit, Deputy National Chairman of APC, Engr. Segun Oni, said the style with which people, especially members and supporters of the party are being killed in the state indicates that there is ongoing genocide against APC members in Rivers state.
Insisting that the act of killing and chopping off heads of APC members by their assailants was purely genocide he said such act would stop soon, and vowed that the party would make a serious appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the precarious situation of the people of the state.
He said, “I am surprised that this kind of thing is happening in Rivers which indeed is part of Nigeria. It is strange that people will kill their fellow human beings, cut off their head and take it away as if it were a souvenir.
“This kind of killing is nothing less than genocide. We have not heard enough until today that we have entered into this state. What is happening here is worst than we hear over there. This is purely genocide visited on APC members.
“The Federal Government needs to do something quickly to save this situation, because it is a shame to allow a part of Nigeria to degenerate into this mess. The brutal killing of APC members in the state must stop. Our people must not continue to die because they identified with a political party.”
-Leadership/Vanguard
