•Cries Out To Army, Police •Also Condemns Return of Militancy in Niger Delta
•Demands Change of Rivers REC
The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly condemned the killing, on Friday in the Obrikom part of the State, of a monarch sympathetic to the cause of APC and nine other members of the party. Rivers APC has blamed the State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the deaths. “We received with utmost shock the killing of a monarch and nine other members of APC by hoodlums hired by the PDP leadership in Rivers State on 3rd April,” the State APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said in a statement issued Sunday in Port Harcourt.
He lamented that over 50 APC members have been killed in politically motivated violence in the State in the past three months. In addition, “Several of our members have been arrested and molested, property of our members are vandalised on daily basis. Our local government secretariats at Okrika and Andoni were bombed and our rally at Okrika was on two occasions disrupted by gunmen from PDP, while one of the aborted Okrika rallies saw the death of a police man. Besides, during the March 28th presidential and National Assembly polls, the entire world saw the rape of our democracy by PDP working in tandem with INEC, Army and Police, denying the people of Rivers State the opportunity to choose their leaders while allotting votes to other parties as they deem fit,” Ikanya said.
Rivers APC condemned the trend as dangerous and unacceptable. “We therefore humbly request our amiable outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan, whose mantra is that his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, to call Chief Nyesome Wike and other PDP leaders in Rivers State to order and stop the orgy of blood-letting in the State. It is very unfortunate that Chief Wike’s gubernatorial ambition has brought so much misery to all the good people of Rivers State and brought shame and negativity to our State,” the party said.
It emphasised that “the people of Rivers State have resolved to reject Wike’s candidature as it portends evil and injustice since we cannot allow two sons of Ikwerre to govern Rivers State for 16 years to the detriment of other tribes of the State. This will amount to injustice against Rivers State and her people. We therefore call on President Jonathan to intervene as a matter of urgency before this man turns Rivers State into Yemen and other security challenged areas of the world.
“In the same vein, we call on the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff to call their men to order as we will not tolerate the unholy acts they exhibited during the March 28th polls during the April 11th governorship and State Assembly elections. Our people must be allowed to vote for the leader of their choice without any form of intimidation.”
Rivers APC commended and congratulated INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, for making himself the hero of the country’s democracy by the transparent manner he conducted the presidential and National Assembly elections. “In contrast, the Rivers Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Gesila Khan, is a disgrace to the ideals of INEC. We demand for her immediate transfer because of the inglorious role she played on March 28th in trading off the INEC result sheets to Chief Wike and the fact that she has already declared the result of the April 11th polls, as Chief Wike recently boasted at an event in Port Harcourt that the result sheets for the polls are already with him,” the party said.
It also condemned the reported return of militancy in parts of the Niger Delta, especially the sabotaging of the main gas pipeline in the region by militants on Friday. “The Niger Delta has no reason to be apprehensive as President-elect Muhammadu Buhari prepares to assume the reins of office on May 29. Buhari is a great friend of the Niger Delta and we are convinced that his regime will do for us all the things which our son, President Jonathan, by omission or commission, failed to do for us,” Rivers APC said.