The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of causing the death of more than 30 of its supporters in Rivers State in the past few months.
“Our investigations showed that we have lost no fewer than 30 of our members and supporters in political attacks instigated in parts of the state by agents of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“As painful as this is, we are miffed that no single arrest has been made by the police in connection with these politically-motivated killings calculated to intimidate and annihilate us a political party,” Rivers APC Chairman, Davis Ikanya, said in a statement issued in Port Harcourt.
He lamented that those behind the killings are increasingly emboldened, as evidenced by their brazen attack on APC governorship campaign train in Okrika on February 18.
“With the shooting, bombing and successful disruption of our Okrika rally which was aimed principally at eliminating our gubernatorial candidate, Dakuku Peterside, with the successful kidnapping of Fred Ndigbara, a civil servant working in the media unit of Rotimi Amaechi, the Governor of Rivers State, we indeed need no soothsayer to tell us that we are no longer protected but now endangered species.
“When a political party is denied the right to canvas for votes in an assumed democratic system, as has been done to us in Okrika, we can only conclude that Nigeria is slowly but steadily slipping into a state of anarchy.
“With the lives of our people threatened on daily basis, with the security agencies looking the other way, we have every reason to wonder if the PDP-controlled federal government is truly serious that elections will hold in Rivers State during the general elections scheduled for March and April.”
Ikanya commended the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, for ordering investigation into the incident in Okrika, where one policemen providing security at our rally was killed.
He also commended Zone 6 Assistant Inspector General of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, for ordering Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Dan Bature, to rescue Ndigbara from the hands of those who kidnapped him at an APC rally in Khana.
“We, however, wish to emphasise that something serious must be done soon to avoid us losing hope on the ability of the police to secure our lives.”