APC:RIVERS STATE

The Rivers State chapter of the All
Progressives Congress has said 30 of its
members have so far been killed during
various political crises that rocked the
state in the past few months.
The chairman of the party in the state,
Davis Ikanya, who stated this in a
statement Thursday, however, lamented
that the police had not made any arrest in
connection with the killings.
He accused the members of the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party of
being behind the killings.
“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,” he
said.
“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 as a political party.”
Mr. Ikanya said those behind the killings
were increasingly becoming emboldened
by the day as demonstrated by their
brazen attack on APC gubernatorial train
in Okrika, the home town of the wife of
the president, Patience Jonathan, on
February 18.
According to him, the shooting, bombing
and successful disruption of Okrika rally
was aimed principally at eliminating the
APC governorship candidate, Dakuku
Peterside and the successful kidnapping
of Fred Ndigbara, a civil servant working
in the media unit of Governor Rotimi
Amaechi.
‘We indeed need no soothsayer to tell us
that we are no longer protected but now
endangered species,” he said. “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.”
The APC chairman commended the
Inspector General of Police, Suleiman
Abba, “for ordering full investigation into
the madness that happened at Okrika,
where one of the policemen providing
security at our rally was brutally killed”.
He also commended Assistant Inspector
General of Police in charge of Zone 6,
Tunde Ogunsakin, for ordering Rivers
State Commissioner of Police, Dan Bature,
to rescue Mr. Ndigbara from the hands of
those that kidnapped him while on a
democratic duty during the rally of APC at
Khana recently.
“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,” Mr. Ikanya
said.
“PDP and its promoters can’t be allowed
to continue to act with impunity as if the
police are an extension of the party as
being boasted by some of its chieftains.
“It is very unfortunate and sad that a
Police Force that is being sustained and
maintained by our taxes should allow its
reputation to be ruined by a group of
people who do not mean well for our
State.”
The APC chairman demanded “the
immediate rescue of Fred Ndigbara, a
harmless fellow whose only crime is
belonging to APC, and that adequate
protection be accorded to our
gubernatorial candidate and the entire
APC leadership in Rivers State.”
“We also demand a stop to the further
harassment of our members. We are full
citizens of this country and we can no
longer tolerate being treated like second
class citizens,” he said.
He said the party commiserated with the
family of the slain policeman, police
corporal, Ifeanyi Okorie, and assured that
it would do everything humanly possible
to ensure that his children are given the
best education that they need to succeed
in life.