By Ade Martins-
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Nigeria, Mr. Tonye Cole, has blamed the sitting governor of his state for attacks aimed at rival parties and called on president Buhari to call for a state of emergency in the state.
The governorship representative who recently won a court judgement permitting him to participate in the elections, has raised the urgency for President Muhammadu Buhari to halt the current chaos in the state by declaring a state of emergency.
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Cole said the opposition political parties in Rivers State were presently under siege , given the level of violent attacks by thugs allegedly working for Wike’s faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
It comes after party representatives going for governorship posts were violently attacked during an open campaign by hoodlums, as gun shots were reined in the air from all corners, including thugs and the police, who were trying to fend the thugs off,
The city police have been accused of being compromised in the affair, as many point fingers to the sitting governor, Nyesome Wike as the man financing the unlawful attacks to intimidate his opponents. Wike denies the allegations, and openly joined the chorus of complaints against the police for not being on top of the senseless mayhem.
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Buhari has not responded to his calls, as the atmosphere for the 2023 elections intensifies.
The party added that its campaign director was abducted by suspected thugs at the Opobo/Nkoro Opobo Local Government Area, where the rally took place last weekend.
The APC in reaction accused the police of compromise as it claimed policemen were on ground when the attack happened.
Allegation
The party insists that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, plotted and unleashed violence on the APC campaign in the state.
He stated that the deadly attacks began with a road blockade mounted by thugs en route Egberu community, hometown of Rivers State PDP Chairman, Desmond Akawor, in Ward 3 of Oyigbo Local Government Area to deny Senator Magnus Abe access to the community for a party meeting.
He also said the attacks had since spread to other parts of the state and become more audacious, targeting campaigns by the opposition parties and their candidates.
A few months ago, thugs attacked the convoy of both Atiku and Bola Tinubu for the APC, throwing stones and bottles, in a bid to show their disapproval for the party and its representative candidates.
Current Governor, Nyesome Wike, is accused of paying thugs to obstruct the election process. He has in the past expressed disapproval for any candidates to participate in the election where he has his own preferred eventual governor for his state. He has been accused of constituting a nuisance in the elections, allegations he strongly denies
Nyesome Wike Image:thentionlineng.net
Ekwuemeka Eze, a media strategist and publicist, added his voice to the issue, against the Rivers Government over the response of the state governor on Cole’s call.
Eze in a statement in Port Harcourt said says Cole was right in his demands, saying the political atmosphere in the state is tense and pregnant.
Another APC chieftain, Sogbeye Eli, spokesman of the Cole Campaign Council rather recalled that the Rivers APC governorship campaign rally grounds in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area was attacked with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and sporadic gunfire, a development which he said the Commissioner of Police denied before ordering an investigation. “No report of the investigation is made public and no arrest has been made till date.”
Eli named another disruption of to be their Andoni rally at Asarama which he said was also reported without a single arrest.
“Campaign activities of the governorship candidates of Accord, Dumo Lulu-Briggs, and the Social Democratic Party, Magnus Abe, have suffered similar unprovoked attacks at Etche, Oyigbo, Port Harcourt, Tai, and Ahoada West local council areas over the last couple of days without any deterrence measure by the State Police Command.”
He has intensified calls for the transfer of the commissioner of police.
In his message of support for the call for state of emergency, Eze erstwhile national publicity secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), said the PDP administration in Rivers State is full of men that cannot handle the deteriorating situation.
Eze said the pervading insecurity, financial sleaze, manifest corruption, and deplorable state of public infrastructure in health, education, and other critical sectors coupled with the embarrassing status of Rivers State as the poverty capital and unemployment in Nigeria call for a rapid intervention, such that only emergency rule can afford, given the exigency of time
Cole is a rich businessman who has been mired in controversy surrounding huge amounts of money, and was on the receiving end of an unfavourable court ruling that saw him excluded from participating in the elections over his citizenship. He was accused of failing to declare how he became British, and whether he had denounced his Nigerian citizenship or whether he had made a clear allegiance to Britain as an adult.
His campaign has twice been targeted by hoodlums throwing stones and bottles at his convoy, as police rein gunshots towards the crowd. It is the stuff of films translated to real life as the rivals fight for the top job. Coles representatives told journalists in Abuja how dire the situation is.
In a statement signed by a spokesman of the Rivers APC 2023 Campaign Council, Sogbeye Eli, Cole blamed the signing of Executive Orders 21 and 22 by Governor Nyesom Wike for the violence that has recently bedevilled the state.
Two politicians have already been killed in the Labour party, forcing the British High Commissioner to intervene by threatening to deny visas against any suspects that disrupt the elections of 2023.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Council in Rivers State alleged police complicity in yesterday’s attack on its members at a rally in Opobo area of the state, suggesting that the state’s Commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong Okon, has been compromised. Consistent with that suggestion is that the police chief has been paid to stay silent, and just watch disaster unfold.
He stated that the deadly attacks began with a road blockade mounted by thugs en route Egberu community, hometown of Rivers State PDP Chairman, Desmond Akawor, in Ward 3 of Oyigbo Local Government Area to deny Senator Magnus Abe access to the community for a party meeting.
He also said the attacks had since spread to other parts of the state and become more audacious, targeting campaigns by the opposition parties and their candidates.
Wike, who has been governor for Rivers State for the past 8 years, is a very vocal and audacious character. He has been embroiled in an internal feud with his PDP party, ever since he was denied the party ticket to be the presidential representative. Abubakar Atiku, was instead selected following a process in which money did practically most of the talking, rather than capability.
Wike was annoyed by the situation , and appears to be covertly supporting an opposing party leader- Bola Tinubu of The APC
Since then, the very outspoken governor has expressed a level of ownership over the governorship elections, repeatedly insisting that the emerging victor for the governorship post must be his representative.
Serious violence by thugs has since been a worrying issue for a country with high level security issues..
Cole added, “This dastardly attack left five members of the APC injured with shrapnel extracted from their bodies while receiving emergency medical attention.
“Those injured were a male and four females: Hope Isaac, Paul Oghonomu, Felicia Gogo, Amba Lizzy Frank and Angela Gift-Koko of Wards 6 and 20 of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area.”
Cole revealed that another attack agsint the campaign convoy of Dumo Lulu-Briggs, governorship candidate of Accord Party, was conducted by PDP thugs wielding guns and other dangerous weapons.
Cole stated, “Observers of Rivers politics trace the foundation of the unprovoked attacks by anti-democratic forces to the enactment of Executive Orders 21 and 22 by Governor Nyesom Wike prohibiting political campaigns in public places, particularly government-owned schools.
“The Executive Orders also imposed a non-refundable cautionary deposit of N5 million on political parties for use of the facilities in each local government area, in contravention of limitations imposed on campaign financing by political parties and politicians in the Electoral Act 2022.”
Furthermore, the APC gubernatorial candidate said Wike had taken further steps which point squarely at him as the architect of the climate of political violence that has besieged the state. He quoted Wike as having directed his loyalists to approach the 2023 general election with a belligerent mentality. “It is a fight to finish. Do not be afraid,” Wike was quoted to have told his supporters.
Cole said, “Emboldened by the governor’s reckless instigation, the factional PDP thugs have charged at the opposition parties campaigns and the splinter group supporting the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, with renewed vigour. Campaign materials, such as billboards are destroyed with relish while opposition rallies are disrupted to the delight of the state government.
“As tense as the political environment has become in Rivers State, evoking memories of the mindless violence, bloodshed and killings of APC members that attended Wike’s approach to the 2015 general elections, Rivers people are concerned that the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, Okon Effiong Okon, is lending impetus to the ongoing thuggery of the PDP.
“When Wike painted the attack on the APC rally as a product of an internal crisis within the Rumuwoji community to whittle down the burden of guilt on his conscience, he only re-echoed the Commissioner of Police who declared that no IED was used in the attack prior to directing the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, and the bomb disposal unit to investigate the incident.
“Regardless of the prejudicial position of the police commissioner who has clearly reneged on his pledge at assumption of office in October last year to uphold the rights of Nigerians and guarantee freedom to all political parties in the build up to the 2023 elections to operate, we reiterate that the APC rally was attacked and same was an attempt by the ruling party to intimidate and chase away APC supporters.”
Police Commissioner Blame
The APC representative said that the same commissioner had turned down his party’s request for police security to march on a peaceful protest against the Wike’s executive orders.
He noted that the governing party in the state had never hidden its intentions to refuse opposition political parties campaign freedom or participation in a free and fair electoral process.
Cole said, “We, therefore, reiterate our earlier call on security agencies, particularly the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command and Director of Department of State Services (DSS) to call the governor to order.
“Let Wike call off the urge to use his supporters to fight in the state thereby disrupting a peaceful transition of power after the general election.
“Rivers people deserve a right to elect a government of their own choice and no one should be seen abusing his office to thwart the people’s rights which the constitution guarantees because he has a selfish agenda to impose his successor on the state.”
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