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Tag: intimidation

  • JOHESU strike: Patients complain of intimidation at FMC Makurdi

    Patients at the Federal Medical Centre ( FMC ), Makurdi, have complained of alleged intimidation by members and officials of striking Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) in Benue.

    It was gathered that there was commotion and panic around the main entrance of the hospital following attempts by the union to enforce total compliance to their protracted strike.

    The report said that patients, some health workers and passersby were caught in the commotion, which lasted for about half an hour before it was calmed.

    According to the report, attempts by JOHESU officials to stop their members from reporting to work caused the commotion.
    The commotion led to traffic build-up, thereby obstructing free flow of traffic along the Atiku Abubakar Road directly in front of the hospital.

    Some union officials were heard issuing verbal threats of physical assault to members bent on reporting to work just as some of the patients and relatives said they were also prevented from entering the hospital.

    One of the officials (name withheld) was heard threatening a member “If you enter here I will beat you; try now let’s see” at the entrance.

    Read Also: JOHESU strike paralyses activities at LASUTH

    One of the patients, Mrs Rose Audu, said she was shocked at the commotion at the hospital gate, and described it as “embarrassing”.
    Audu admitted that she was harassed by the officials who thought she was a health worker.

    She, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to quickly resolve the contending issues to allow the health workers resume work.

    Addressing journalists at the scene, the state Chairman, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, Mr Dennis Nyam, said they would continue with the strike until their demands were met.

    He explained that the union leadership was on a monitoring exercise in all the hospitals to enforce compliance and was determined to ensure 100 per cent compliance.

    Also speaking on the development, the Head of Clinical Services, FMC, Dr Paulinus Abu, said the management was working with the police to ensure maintenance of law and order.

    He regretted that despite all entreaties, the JOHESU members in the state had remained adamant and were recalcitrant on going ahead with the strike.

    He said owing to the location of the hospital, the strike needed to be handled with utmost maturity to prevent miscreants taking advantage of it to wreck havoc on the community.

    Police officers were sighted thereafter, within the vicinity of the hospital to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

  • Buhari, judiciary, intimidation and rule of law

    Buhari, judiciary, intimidation and rule of law

    IN his address to the All Nigeria Judges’ Conference last week in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari reflected on a number of issues, among which was the raid on some judges’ residences last year. He went on to anchor his reflections on the topic of judicial intimidation and rule of law. Arguing his case before the eminent judges, the president suggested that it would be wrong to think the raid indicated executive intimidation of the judiciary and a repudiation of the hallowed concept of the rule of law. It is not clear whether the president thought he made a good case, or whether he was able to prove his government’s altruism in raiding the residences of some judges. But at least, he made a case, even if it was tenuous and a little disagreeable.

    In his words: “Without the rule of law the government will degenerate into dictatorship or anarchy. The theme you have chosen this year keys in with our administration’s resolve to strengthen the three arms of government to effectively fulfil their constitutional obligations…My lords, earlier this year the judiciary came under investigation. Let me again assure the judicial community, this action taken by the executive was in no way a prelude to usurping the powers of the National Judicial Council (NJC) or aimed at intimidating the judiciary. Executive and legislative officials were also investigated. I am aware that the majority of judicial officers are learned and incorruptible and day-in-day-out acting in the best spirit of their oath of office.”

    The president doubtless sounded remorseful. But whether that apparent remorse was a reiteration of the ongoing rapprochement with various persons, interests and organs, or whether it was not quite as heartfelt as it appeared, is not yet known. The president is, however, dead set on pacifying many aggrieved persons and groups in the country, probably for the main aim of securing a second term in office. There is no other way to assess his curious outreach to aggrieved groups and persons after first insisting, for about two years, that he was right on virtually all issues, regardless of their controversiality and even illogicality, and everyone else was wrong. But if his statements truly reflect his new mindset, even if they do not justify his old mindset, then perhaps the country should be hopeful that after a tortuous journey of self-discovery engineered by its hesitant and sometimes uncritical president, the country might be set to embark on a more enthralling and lasting democratic journey.

    President Buhari must forgive his critics for doubting his bona fides. He had hardly assumed office in 2015 when he made the injurious statement that his main headache was the judiciary, suggesting that he came into office with a prejudiced mind against the third arm of government. Since then, it has taken a herculean battle to compel the president to be nuanced about how he dealt with judicial matters. Reluctant but still unfazed, it has also taken the president almost three years in office to embrace the constant amelioration a president would need to show in order to survive the cut and thrust of office, not to say find the deep ideological positions indispensable to societal transformation and renewal.

    But the president also made very interesting statements about the rule of law. The country should be grateful that he did, for it is necessary to hold him up to his words. He had said that without the rule of law, the country would ‘degenerate’ into ‘dictatorship or anarchy’. He is absolutely right. But it is hard to tell whether he believed his own statements. The peril of reading speeches written by others is that statements such as this, which is a veritable self-indictment, slip through the cracks and find their way into the public domain. President Buhari speaks of the rule of law when all it takes to controvert his assertion is to point him in the direction of two of the leading cases being prosecuted by his government, cases he apparently feels very emotional about. The Sambo Dasuki and Ibraheem el-Zakzaky cases stand as ringing rebuttal of the president’s fawning statements on the rule of law. It would be strange if the president does not see and feel the contradiction.

    If the president discussed and examined all the perspectives in his speech before the judges’ conference, nothing in all he said suggested that the process was carefully done. It was probably perfunctory, or at worst an insidious appeal to votes. Even if he gets the votes, assuming that was his goal, the president should be worried about what legacy of ideas and structures he would bequeath the country when he leaves office. He has a duty to dig far deeper than he has done, perhaps with the help of self-confident aides who have overcome the fear of standing before him and nullifying his dramas and jaded ideas.

  • Girl-child: Okorocha’s wife, others advocate equal opportunities

    Girl-child: Okorocha’s wife, others advocate equal opportunities

    The challenges facing the girl-child are many and daunting. Ranging from domestic abuse, discrimination, intimidation, harassment to denial of equal opportunities with their male counterparts in education, employment, career and other social and economic pursuits, the girl child has endured the burden with little or no choice.

    Over the years, there have been growing awareness on the plight of the girl child, but little has been achieved in the fight to eliminate these challenges and give the womenfolk, especially the girl child equal opportunities to develop their potentials and actualize their ambitions.

    Also identified as major problems confronting the girl-child is early and forced marriage, which was described as dangerous and dehumanising.

    All these challenges were brought to the fore and brainstormed on by a non-governmental organisation, owned by the wife of the Imo State governor, Nkechi Rochas Okorocha, the Women of Divine Destiny Initiative (WODDI) recently during the event to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl Child.

    The stakeholders at the event including renowned female scholars, businessmen, traditional rulers, clergymen, among others, identified education as the most viable tool to fight all forms of marginalization of the girl child.

    They also blamed obsolete cultural practices that discriminate between the girl child and the male counterpart for most of the challenges confronting the girl child.

    The various speakers advocated unhindered access to quality education and equal opportunities for not sexes as the solution to the plight of the girl child.

    At the celebration with the theme: ‘Girls Progress-Goals Progress What counts for the Girl’, the governor’s wife , submitted that quality education is the bedrock and most viable tool in emancipating the girl child.

    Mrs Okorocha stated that the essence of the celebration is to equip the girl child to fulfil her potentials without any inhibition, adding that “if you get the girl child right,  you have gotten the society right”.

    She described the girl child as source of energy and creativity,  calling on the authorities to pay adequate attention to those things that count for the girl child,  like education and nutrition.

    According to her, girls are the strongest tools of change,  stressing that to attain the vision 2030 SDGs “there must be committed efforts towards empowering the girl-child for a better”.

    Mrs Okorocha also enjoined parents to desist from forcing their children into early marriages, arguing such act and other harmful practices exposes the girl child to danger.

    Other renowned scholars who presented papers on several topics,  including the rights of the girl child,  nutrition and education,  urged the girl child to speak up against any form of abuse, both at home and in their respective schools.

    The Chairman of the Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Samuel Ohiri,  said that the Council had amended all the cultural practices and customs that discriminates and inhibits the girl child from achieving their set goals.

    He said that gone are the days when the girl child is regarded as inferior to the  male child,  adding that such assumption is a result of ignorance and illiteracy.

    He said, “The girl child is as good as the male child.  They should be given equal opportunities to succeed. The idea that the girl-child should sacrifice her education and other opportunities for the male child is condemnable”.

    Highlight of the event was the inauguration of WODDI Girls’ Club in selected  secondary schools , which will serve as a platform for further education and engagements with the girl-child, with the aim of further assistance and mentoring.

  • Family accuses retired DIG of intimidation, covetousness

    The Isunba/Ijiri Royal family in Ogun State has urged Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris and Ogun Police Commissioner Ahmed Iliyasu to rescue its members from a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Adeola Adeniji.

    Adeniji, the family claimed, had continued to forcefully collect the family’s property and harass them with thugs.

    In a petition by its Secretary, Chief Mutairu Odu, the family said Adeniji allegedly threatened to use his police contacts to encroach and dislodge them from their land at Ilogbo Asowo.

    Contacted, the retired DIG declined comments on the allegations, saying he lost his stepmother and was busy with the burial.

    Adeniji, who had a copy of the petition sent to his mail last Thursday, said: “I am indeed sorry that I have not responded. It is due to the fact that I lost my stepmother on September 8 and (I’m) presently busy with the funeral arrangements. I shall arrange a one-on-one session soonest, please.”

    According to Odu, the family, which had confronted Adeniji for his actions, got detained by the retired DIG.

    The family’s secretary said his people no longer slept with their eyes closed because they were always on the lookout to threats by the retired policeman.

    He said: “Our family were recently arrested and detained for more than 14 days at the instance of Aina Ajaguna, who has been acting as a surrogate for Adeniji. It took our family a fundamental rights enforcement suit to secure arraignment of those detained at a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ota, after which they were granted bail.”

    Odu added that Adeniji, Ajaguna and Kazeem Aleshinloye had stationed “fierce-looking, marijuana-smoking thugs armed with cutlasses and guns” on their land.

    The family spokesman said the thugs shot sporadically to cause fear among the villagers.

    He said: “We hereby draw the attention of security agencies, particularly the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to the nefarious activities of the aforementioned people in respect of our family land. We urge the IGP, the Commissioner of Police in Ogun State and all concerned citizens to help us nip the activities of these land grabbers in the bud. At present, they are giving the impression that they are above the law.”

  • Residents accuse DPO of intimidation

    Residents accuse DPO of intimidation

    •‘Allegation not true’

    SOME residents of Itire in Lagos Mainland have accused the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of intimidating them because of a woman.
    Residents of 10, Araromi Street, Itire, said they have been at the DPO’s mercy following a rift with a co-tenant, Maryam Wahab, described as acquaintance of the DPO.
    But the DPO has denied the allegation, accusing the tenants of trying to drag him into their dispute.
    The residents, including 49-year-old Mrs. Kemi Labisi, daughter of the 90-year-old landlady, Mrs Claudina Alayande, were remanded in prison for over 10 days, after their arraignment in court.
    It all started when Wahab chased away a woman, Lola Kalejaiye, she was harbouring during a scuffle. Kalejaiye was said to have moved her things into the apartment of another neighbour, Seun Arowolo.
    But Wahab felt slighted by the action of Arowolo, a make-up artist, who allegedly declined her request for a tattoo on a sensitive part of her body.
    According to Arowolo: “the whole thing is strange. Maryam has made our lives impossible for doing nothing to her. I am a make-up artist and I draw tattoos. I am also a hair stylist. But Maryam came to me when I moved into this compound and told me to draw tattoo for her. I wasn’t comfortable with the area she wanted the tattoo and I told her I won’t unless her husband personally told me to go ahead.
    “Then, before I moved into this compound, I used to fix Lola’s hair. I have known her before packing into this compound. So, when they had their issues and Lola pleaded with me to keep her bag, I obliged her. I saw no reason to refuse her since she only kept her luggage and went to her friend’s place to stay. Three days later, Lola came and picked some of her things. It was then Maryam saw her and started making trouble.
    “She started insulting me and calling me names. I didn’t answer her because I was just coming back from work and I was tired. I entered the house and locked the door. Around 11pm, Maryam started again. By this time, two of my brothers, Tobi and Tolu were at home. She was hitting our door and calling me bastard.
    “Tobi went out and asked her to stop hitting the door and to stop the insult but she pushed him. Then, every other occupant of the compound came out, including Mrs. Labisi and told her she was looking for trouble but she didn’t listen. She kept pushing Tobi and insulting our mother.
    “At that point, Tobi dragged her from the door and pushed her away. The landlady held Tobi and took him out of the place. We were all outside when one of our neighbours shouted that Maryam has stabbed herself and that she was running. We didn’t know what was happening and I ran after her.
    “Then, we discovered she was going to the police station and we followed her there. But on getting there, we were arrested and detained. She lied that we stabbed her, the police didn’t listen to us. They just locked us up. My father came the next day and paid N25,000 for our bail.
    “A day after we were granted bail, police came back to the compound and arrested us again. This time, our landlady’s daughter came to bail us and she was detained too because Maryam said she supported us to stab her. That was how we were charged to court and taken to Kirikiri where we spent over 10 days.”
    Arowolo added: “We are tired of the harassment. Let the police investigate and find out who is being truthful. Let the Commissioner investigate the DPO and officers at Itire Police Station. We have suffered enough because of her. She has been bragging that we would return to Kirikiri Prison anytime she wants us to go there. That she would show us that she has power and nothing would happen.”
    Mrs Labisi, who claimed that five of her dogs were poisoned and died in quick succession, alleged that Wahab has been making life difficult for her family.
    She alleged that Wahab was responsible for her dogs’ death, adding that people overheard her saying: “they haven’t seen anything yet, human beings, not dogs would start dying very soon.”
    Mrs Labisi said: “That woman is the only headache we have in this compound. She packed in, in August 2015. Since November, it’s been one trouble or the other. She picks quarrel with everyone and when admonished, she runs to the station to fabricate lies.
    “I have had to bail myself or my sister on several occasions from the station. There are times I would go to the station to file a complaint against her but I will be arrested. At a point, one of her friends told our neighbour to tell us to take our matter away from Itire Police Stain because she is friendly with the DPO there.
    “The problem of last Wednesday started when I was complaining that our dogs are dying anyhow. One of the dogs was vomiting blood before it died and when we called a veterinarian, he said the dogs were poisoned. So, I was said and lamenting bitterly.
    “Then, we heard her saying that dogs are dying now, we are complaining. That human beings will soon start dying. That was a serious comment and I started shouting at her for saying that. I accused her that she was the one who was killing our dogs for saying that and she called me a barren woman.
    “I went to the station to give a complaint and I met her there. As I got there, I overheard one of the police women telling her to stop intimidating us and that she should pack out of the compound. But because of her relationship with the DPO, that woman said she was told to detain me.
    “I heard later that policemen went to the house to check and they saw that her net was not torn as she claimed, neither was there water in her room. Yet I was detained. I got to the station around 12pm and was there till about 8pm before I was released to go home.
    “Before that time, the police collected N5,000 from my sister for my bail and told my sister to go and bring money for her own bail because the complainant claimed she also attacked her. They now collected my sister’s phone and told her to bring money to bail the phone.
    “But when the DPO’s boss intervened in the matter, he returned the money and phone and asked them to release us. That was how we were released and since then, the police have not come to arrest us again. It has not been easy. We leave in our home in fear.”
    Kalejaiye denied any rape attempt on her, saying Arowolo only assisted her to keep her luggage.
    Wahab insisted that she was assaulted, claiming that Mrs Labisi and the men always called her prostitute, despite being married.
    She said: “They are lying. How could I have stabbed myself? It was Tolu who stabbed me and they all saw it. Mrs. Labisi now told them to go to the station and say that I stabbed myself. All the things they have been accusing me of are lies. They even said I am the DPO’s lover, which is untrue too.
    “They accused me that I was the one who killed their dog. What evidence do they have? So many things have been happening in the compound. I even fear for my life staying there. I am tired of the troubles there but I know that God is watching. Lola is the reason for all these problems.”

  • Boroffice: stop intimidation

    Boroffice: stop intimidation

    The senator representing Ondo North, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, yesterday warned Governor Olusegun Mimiko against alleged harassment of members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    In a statement, the senator said the “deployment of compromised police officers to intimidate APC members is the tactic of a frightened leader who has begun the journey to political oblivion”.

    Boroffice, an APC governorship aspirant, said: “For instance, family members of APC chieftain and Director-General of Technical Aid Corps, Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi, were harassed, intimidated and arrested by the anti-kidnapping squad.

    “The officers claimed that guns and other weapons were found on the innocent citizens whose only sin is their association with the APC family in Ondo State.

    “However, these people were arraigned and charged to court for assault. Assault on who? Where? When? These are yet unanswered questions.

    “My supporters at Ifedore and other parts of the state have been harassed and maltreated by government agents in recent times.

    “It is understandable that the governor is yet to recover from the shock and pain occasioned by the defection of his close allies to the progressives fold.”

    Boroffice said the intimidation of APC members would not help Mimiko’s declining popularity.

    He warned the police to strive to maintain neutrality and professionalism.

  • Rivers APC to Buhari: halt intimidation of tribunals’ witnesses

    Rivers APC to Buhari: halt intimidation of tribunals’ witnesses

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to halt the alleged intimidation of witnesses who testified  before the election petitions tribunals in Abuja.

    Rivers APC, through its Chairman, Chief Davies Ikanya, in a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said the witnesses wanted to assist the tribunal to ensure justice.

    APC in Rivers said: “Photos of the APC witnesses at the tribunals in Abuja are being posted on Facebook by a group known as The Youth Coalition For Good Governance. They held a demonstration and tagged our witnesses with all sorts of unprintable names and accused them of being saboteurs.

    “Today, these men (witnesses) live in hiding and can no longer do their businesses freely to maintain their families.”

    It urged Buhari to institute a probe into the murder of 97 persons during the 2015 polls in Rivers State.

    APC said:  “We passionately plead with President Buhari to hasten to make good his promise to Rivers people on May 13, 2015 when he vowed to revisit the issue, saying: ‘We will confront them with facts and figures. We will not forgive and we will not forget those who perpetrated killings and arson in Rivers State during the elections (of March 28 and April 11, 2015).’

    “We demand that the Prof. Chidi Odinkalu Commission of Inquiry report be revisited urgently,”

    Rivers APC also called on all the security agencies to take necessary preventive measures, to guarantee the safety of the witnesses testifying at the various election petitions tribunals in Abuja.

  • Community alleges Naval men’s intimidation

    Community alleges Naval men’s intimidation

    Residents of Majidun in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, converged on the Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday to protest the alleged killing of three people at Majidun Tipper Garage by suspected Naval officers.

    The protesters, numbering about 200, urged the state government to immediately intervene and ensure the release of the shot victims – dead or alive.

    Among the protesters – are youths and the elderly, who lamented that life had been hellish since the Naval men came into their community. They called for their immediate withdrawal.

    It would be recalled that one of the Naval officers, went wild on Monday, shooting three residents in the process.

    Chairman of Majidun Community and leader of the protesters, Oloyede Egbodofo said the state government should come to their rescue, because “we are being held captive and now terrorised by armed forces in our own houses.”

    Egbodofo recalled that the Naval men came to the community on October 5, 2014 in search of oil thieves and vandals of the pipeline that passed through their community.

    The officers, he alleged, “then began to displace people from their homes and deny shop-owners and business people like ferry operators, farmers, fishermen and sand dredgers from carry out their operations.”

     According to him, “they began to break into shops and people’s homes with gun and robbing them.”

     Egbodofo alleged that last Monday, one of the Naval rating, in commemoration of his birthday, “shot three of our brothers at their place of work in Majidun Tipper Garage.”

     He said while the Naval command claimed that the rating was unknown, the entire community has been unable to reach the victims. An attempt to protest the development to Naval base in Majidun further led to unrest in the community.

    Egbodofo said: “At about 10am on Tuesday, these Naval men paraded the community with their armoured tank to intimidate us with the impression that some gangs are coming to attack them.

    “Your Excellency, Majidun is not a violent community; hence it doesn’t warrant intimidation by the security officials. Please save our soul.”

    A youth leader, Ahmed Aboriota, said there were conflicting reports on the status of the three victims; a source said they were dead, another affirmed that they are recuperating in a hospital.

     “Of primary importance to their families”, Aboriota said, is to see the victims — Olanrewaju Agbolaja and the two Igbos — and bring an end to “agonies of their family members.”

     He added that the community had been in perpetual fear, even as several people had been displaced. Our fathers and mothers now squat in religious houses and our entire economy paralysed. We want the government to come to our aide,” he said.

    The lawmaker, who received the protesters, Bisi Yusuf, commended the protesters for their peaceful conduct. He assured that the House would do everything in its power to look into the matter and restore peace to the community.

    The Nigerian Navy spokesperson, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu confirmed that three persons were injured but none of them died.

    According to him, the injured are being treated at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) at the instance of the Navy.

    He assured that the matter was being investigated, adding that the Lieutenant Commander, who was in-charge of the area has also been detained alongside the rating.

    “I can confirm to you that nobody died; the three injured persons are currently receiving treatment at LUTH and the Navy is footing their bills,” he said.

    Aliyu debunked the allegation of intimidation and robbery against the Naval men.

  • Dickson’s wife, sister dragged to court for trespass, intimidation

    The First Lady, Bayelsa State, Dr. Rachel Dickson, her sister, Madam Tari Konyefa and an architect, Mr. Raymond Favour, have been dragged to the state High Court for allegedly trespassing on a parcel of land belonging to one Anthony Ibomoghe, a.k.a Tony Ezekiel.

    Ezekiel, a businessman, who hails from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state, in a suit, dated May 21, said his parcel of land, which formed part of the Okunukuo Bush, Yenizue-Gene Epie, had been taken over by the trio.

    He described Konyefa as an agent and trustee of Mrs. Dickson’s expansive multi-storey building undergoing construction and near completion at the Erepa Road, Yenizue-Gene.

    Ezekiel, in a copy of the suit obtained by The Nation, said the defendants dumped a container made of steel on his five-bedroom duplex undergoing construction, which he said has already cost him about N40million.

    He said the way and manner the container was dumped on the land impacted negatively on the foundation of his building and stopped him from continuing further work on the structure.

    Irked by the development, he said he lodged a complaint with the Commissioner of Police in Yenagoa, adding that the matter was still receiving consideration by the police.

    Ezekiel said he further sent a letter to the defendants, who instead of complying with his requests, replied him through their lawyer, denying any connection with the actions complained of, including owning any plots of land near his land.

    “The acts of the defendants have greatly injured my proprietary rights and exercise of same over the aforesaid plots of land forcefully denied me because all the defendants are connected with the Governor of Bayelsa State.

    “The defendants enjoy unimpeded access to all the police paraphernalia in Bayelsa State and have all instruments of intimidation at their disposal. They have dared me to take further steps in connection with developing the land in dispute issuing all manner of threats to me, an ordinary helpless Nigerian citizen,” he said.

    He asked the court to make a declaration that the dumping of a container steel structure on his land by the defendants  is unlawful and amounts to trespass.

    He also sought an order of mandatory injunction compelling the defendants to remove forthwith the container.

    Ezekiel further asked the court to make an order directing an inquiry into the damages he incurred following the actions of the defendants and an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from disturbing his rights to the land.

    It was gathered that the court fixed October 5th for hearing on the matter after serving writs of summon on the defendants.

  • Abia APC petitions police over ‘intimidation’

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, on the harassment of its members by government officials.

    The party, in its petition signed by 10 members- Ndionyenma Nwankwo; Nath Ikeocha; Acho Obioma; Pedro Madukwe; Ndukwe Max Adindu; Onyeoha Chukwumereije; Paul Ikonne; Aham Obi; Nwanne Nwabuisi and Kelvin Ugboaja – called on the government to be cautious with the opposition.

    It reads: “The Abia APC condemns the intimidation, harassment, assault and disruption of our meetings by thugs sponsored by the government.

    “The party calls on the IGP, AIG Zone 9, commissioner of police, state director of State Security Services (SSS) to resolve the situation and protect its members.”

    But the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Eze Chikamnayo, described the allegation as false.

    Chikamnayo said the state is secured and free. “Our government respects and allows the freedom of association, irrespective of political leanings.

    “Governor Theodore Orji is a detribalised man and such allegation is unfounded and exists in the imagination of political jobbers.”

    The APC said the State Harmonisation Committee (SHC) will appoint a five- man interim state executive committee tomorrow.