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Tag: Rivers APC

  • Rivers APC, Wike bicker over alleged N4b donation

    Rivers APC, Wike bicker over alleged N4b donation

    Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Nyesom Wike are at loggerheads over an allegation that four Northern governors gave the party N1 billion each for the December 10 legislative rerun.

    The party, through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, described the N4 billion allegation and others as the figment of Wike’s “wild” imagination.

    The governor, in a broadcast, accused governors of Bauchi, Benue, Kano and Plateau states of bankrolling the rerun with N1 billion each, at a time they could not pay the salaries of civil servants, let alone embark on projects.

    Wike, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also said the rerun was brazenly manoeuvred with federal might to undeservedly return some unnamed candidates at all costs.

    But the APC said: “The accusations by Wike in his broadcast are mere figments of his wild imagination. No APC governor donated any money for the rerun in Rivers State. The APC governors merely showed up (during last week’s mega rally in Port Harcourt) to show solidarity with party members and candidates.

    “APC governors do not behave like their PDP colleagues. The obsession with federal might by Wike stems from his use of federal might to rig himself to power in 2015. The APC has nothing to do with that.

    “Wike should exorcise the spirit of what he did in 2015 so that he will be free from his present hallucination around federal might, which is not in use today, unlike what was done during the last PDP federal administration. The Rivers governor can continue to waste our commonwealth on media propaganda, which will lead him nowhere.

    “The rerun is over. We will follow up in our oversight monitoring of all the projects he campaigned with, in the name of flag-off, soon. The scales will fall off the eyes of Rivers people and they will see through the governor’s scam.”

    In his broadcast, Wike thanked Rivers residents for their enthusiasm and participation in the rerun.

    The governor expressed appreciation to them for their courage and determination to defend their votes and ensure that they exercised their democratic rights to freely elect their representatives for the state and national assemblies.

    The Rivers governor claimed that he knew that most people of the state were clearly unhappy with the outcome of the rerun.

    He said: “They (Federal Government) ignored us, when we drew their attention to the persistent abuse of public office by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of Operations and the Commander of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), and the threat they posed to the peaceful conduct of the rerun.

    “They accused us of raising unnecessary alarms when we cried aloud over their devilish plans to use the federally-controlled SARS to disenfranchise our people and manipulate the rerun towards achieving some pre-arranged outcomes against the will of the people.

    “Today, we have clearly and eloquently been vindicated. Despite the unprecedented deployment of over 28,000 police personnel, three helicopters and 20 gunboats for the rerun, we all witnessed how the police officers and their gang of marauders took direct and complete control of the election process from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the Rivers Southeast Senatorial District as well as in Ikwerre, Emouha and Port Harcourt local government areas. They left unimaginable trails of mayhem, shootings, maiming and killing of innocent people.

    “Indeed, never in our history have Rivers people been so physically, mentally and psychologically brutalised, traumatised and denied their rights to freely and fairly elect our leaders by shameless gangs of hired, power-drunk, trigger-happy and irresponsible security officers and their political collaborators…”

  • Appeal Court sacks Rivers APC House of Assembly member

    Appeal Court sacks Rivers APC House of Assembly member

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday sacked a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Opobo/Nkoro Constituency, Mr. Andrew Miller. He is of the All Progressives Congress. He was declared winner of the March 19, 2016 re-run.

    The Justice Ibrahim Saulawa-led panel, in an unanimous decision, nullified the Certificate of Return issued to Miller by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    It ordered the commission to issue a Certificate of Return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the re-run, Mr. Diri Adonye.

    The panel described the election as “massively rigged” in favour of Miller. It set aside the judgment of the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal which affirmed the election of the APC and its candidate.

    In the lead judgment read by Justice George Mbaba, the Court of Appeal said the election was “massively rigged” with figures fraudulently altered across the 11 wards in the Opobo/Nkoro Constituency.

    Justice Mbaba held that results of the election were altered with figures fraudulently inflated and allocated to the APC in the wards.

  • Rivers APC seeks arrest of PDP chairman, others over blackmail

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for arrest of the Rivers State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, and his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, over alleged blackmail.

    The State Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, expressed shock over earlier press statement by Obuah, through Needam, “where he strenuously, but unjustifiably tried to convey the impression that APC sent thugs on Thursday to invade the Government House, Port Harcourt, under the protection of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).”

  • Rivers APC to members: remain steadfast

    Rivers APC to members: remain steadfast

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged its members to remain steadfast in their support.

    In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by its Chairman, Chief Davies Ikanya, through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Public Affairs, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, then party described the March 19 legislative rerun in the state as violence-ridden and a sham.

    It expressed surprise about the hurried release by security agencies of the aides to Governor Nyesom Wike, who were arrested for electoral malpractices and violence during the State and National Assembly rerun polls.

    The party also expressed displeasure at the quick release of Wike’s aides, who were arrested on the March 20 alleged attempt to assassinate the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside; Ikanya and APC’s deputy governorship candidate in Rivers in the 2015 election, Asita Honourable.

    It said: “We are shocked and left speechless by the speed with which the Secretary to Rivers State Government (SSG), Mr. Kenneth Kobani; Wike’s Special Assistant on Special Projects, Mr. Cyril Dum Wite and the governor’s Chief of Staff, Emeka Woke, were released and allowed to go home, despite the overwhelming evidence against them.

    “Kobani was caught red-handed aiding rigging during the March 19 rerun polls, while Wite was caught with N40 million cash, arms, police and army uniforms in his car.

    “On March 20, gunmen operating in two jeeps belonging to Woke, opened fire on a vehicle conveying Peterside, Ikanya and Asita, who were on their way from the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

    “Our hopes were initially raised when Wike’s implicated aides were arrested for questioning; we thought that justice would be made to take its course. We are disappointed that these men have been hastily released and left off the hook, instead of being vigorously investigated and charged before courts of competent jurisdiction. This is sad and unfortunate.”

    Rivers APC urged security agencies in the state to conduct their activities with impartiality and ensure that they are not bought by Governor Nyesom Wike, in his alleged “desperation to completely conquer and possess the state by hook or crook”.

    The party advised its members and supporters not to be demoralised by the turn of events, but to keep hope alive.

    It assured that the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would bring about the promised change in all ramifications.

     

     

  • Wike plans to manipulate rerun, Rivers APC alleges

    Wike plans to manipulate rerun, Rivers APC alleges

    The Rivers State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Davies Ikanya, has alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike is putting pressure on the state’s judges to truncate democracy, ahead of the March 19 rerun.

    The APC chairman told a news conference at the state secretariat in Port Harcourt that Wike and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members were planning a Black Day Procession at Bori-Ogoni on last week’s military operation.

    Ikanya described the procession as shameful, alleging that the Black Day would confirm that Wike and the PDP sponsor cultism, criminality and terrorism in the state.

    He alleged that Wike refused to hand over to the police, a former militant “General” Soboma Jackrich aka Egberipapa, the caretaker chairman of Asari-Toru council, after police raided his house in Buguma and recovered arms and ammunition.

    The APC chairman stressed that the governor refused to hand over to the police Charles Ejima Igwedibia, alias Donwani.

    He alleged that last week’s burning of the senatorial Liaison Office of the APC’s candidate for Rivers Southeast, Senator Magnus Abe, was planned and executed by Wike, to stop him “by all means” from winning the rerun of March 19.

    The APC chieftain expressed surprise that a notorious ex-militant leader, Solomon Ndigbara, aka Osama bin Laden, an indigene of Yeghe-Ogoni in Gokana, who was declared wanted by the 2 Brigade for gun-running, met Wike in Government House and both visited Bori-Ogoni.

    The APC chairman said: “With the elections a few days away, Nyesom Wike and his Attorney-General, Emma Aguma, have dragged the state Judiciary, headed by Justice Adama Iyayi-Lamikanra, into it, with a view to use the judiciary to disqualifyAPC candidates.

    “Our candidates for the House of Assembly elections: Chidi Lloyd of Emohua  and Leo Anyanwu of Omuma, have been sued at the Port Harcourt High Court, in which Chinwe Aguma and Co., the law firm belonging to the attorney-general filed the action, claiming that they be disqualified from the elections.

    “Their ground is that the primaries of the APC, held since December 2014 and on which they conducted the April 11, 2015, election that was voided by the Court of Appeal, are suddenly not valid.

    “Wike and his attorney-general have now approached the Judiciary to sit on appeal against the decisions of the Court of Appeal, which ordered the rerun. Three judges refused to handle the matter and returned the case files.”

    “They have continued shopping with huge cash inducement for a ready and ethically-challenged judge, who will accept the brief and disqualify Lloyd and Anyanwu before the rerun to pave the way for a cheap PDP victory.”

    Ikanya also said he had it on good authority that there would be other suits against APC candidates for disqualification on the same dubious grounds of not giving 21 days notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), before the APC primaries.

    Commissioner for Information and Communications Dr. Austin Tam-George  did not respond to the allegations when contacted.

    The governor, while addressing residents at Etche and Chokocho, yesterday, after inspecting work on the Igwuruta-Chokocho-Etche Road, claimed that APC’s plot to rig Rivers rerun would fail.

    Wike said APC’s candidates were not campaigning, allegedly in view of  its plot to rig the elections.

    He claimed that Rivers people were determined  never to return to the days of mischievous and unproductive leadership.

  • Rivers APC to voters: reject PDP

    Rivers APC to voters: reject PDP

    •Chairman, treasurer, others defect in Gokana

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged the people to reject candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the March 19 legislative rerun to avenge the killing of over 100 members during the 2015 general election.

    It noted that Ekitigate was a child’s play compared with what happened in Rivers State during the general election.

    Rivers APC Chairman Chief Davies Ikanya, in a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, noted that there should be an end to winning elections through violence, rigging and thuggery.

    It said: “While we accept the Supreme Court’s position, we appeal to the electorate to avenge the death of over 100 members by voting for APC candidates on March 19.

    The Rivers APC hailed the Secretary of the Ekiti State chapter of the PDP, Dr. Temitope Aluko, for his courage to go public with details of how the 2014 election in Ekiti was rigged.

    The APC candidate in the Rivers South East Senatorial District rerun, Senator Magnus Abe, at the weekend received defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at a town-hall meeting in Gokana Local Government Area.

    Among them are ex-House of Representatives aspirant, Suage Badey, former PDP leader, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganago, PDP LGA Treasurer, Eric Nasi, ,former Councillor, Hon. Lemea Nyoyor, PDP PRO Ward 11, Baridi Beakoo, and Chairman, Elders Council, PDP, Barako, Gokana, Mr. Lebari Giayetor.

     

    The defectors said Abe has the quality to adequately and effectively represent the district.

    Abe said: “Governor Nyesome Wike went to the church to go and thank God for his victory but he ended up praising himself describing himself as a lion. And he said that he will defeat all of us who are contesting election on the platform of APC. I want to stand here and answer him that he will never defeat us. Because we refuse to buy guns and arm our children does not mean we don’t know what we are doing.”

     

  • It’s a temporary setback, says Rivers APC

    It’s a temporary setback, says Rivers APC

    The Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has described Wednesday’s judgment of the Supreme Court, affirming the election of Governor Nyesom Wike as a temporary setback.

     Rivers APC Chairman Chief Davies Ikanya, through the party’s Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, in a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, noted that the judgment of the apex court was received with mixed feelings.

      APC in Rivers said: “The APC will like to thank our candidates in the race for Senatorial, House of Representatives and Rivers State House of Assembly reruns. The party urges them to remain steadfast, resilient and work hard, with the party, to ensure that we win the forthcoming reruns.

      “The party will also like to appreciate its leadership at all levels, for showing uncommon courage, resilience and unity since inception to date. The same appreciation goes to our esteemed and loyal followers, who have resisted impunity, temptation and enticement, to remain resolute in service to the APC. It is our belief that whatever appears to be a setback now is only temporary, as we will soon re-assert our pride of place in the political milieu of Rivers State and Nigeria. It must surely end in praise”

      It called on those  who recently joined the APC to know that they made the right decision, stressing that they would create a working synergy that would transcend the present times.

  • Rivers APC tackles Wike for asking INEC officials to write wills

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted Governor Nyesom Wike’s request that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials scheduled for the fresh elections ordered by the election petitions tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Abuja to write their wills first.

    APC in Rivers, through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, yesterday in Port Harcourt declared that with the shocking statement by Wike, lawyer and former Minister of State for Education, he had finally exposed himself as responsible for the violence and killings recently witnessed in Rivers State.

    The tribunal sacked 20 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the 32-member Rivers House of Assembly, including the Speaker, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, of Andoni constituency, but now at the Appeal Court. In Rivers Assembly, 31 members are of PDP, while one belongs to APC.

    The election petitions tribunal also sacked Wike, the three Senators and 12 of 13 members of the House of Representatives, all of PDP. The National Assembly members proceeded to the appelate court – where the tribunal’s judgments were upheld – as the final bus stop for other elections except governorship.

    It ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections within 60 days of delivering the judgments, while the Rivers governor indicated that he had contacted his lawyers to proceed to the Supreme Court, rather than going for fresh election within 90 days as ordered by the Court of Appeal.

    Wike spoke on Thursday, while addressing his supporters at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, on arrival from Abuja, and later at the Rivers secretariat of the PDP on Aba Road in Port Harcourt during the inauguration of the modern multi-purpose hall and one-day seminar for party officials and government functionaries.

    Wike alleged that there was an ungodly grand conspiracy to take over Rivers State, insisting that God would disappoint the evil conspirators. He asked Rivers people to look beyond him to stop the evil wind of enslavement being propagated by the conspirators.

    He added that anyone detailed by the conspiring forces to rig elections in the state would face dire consequences, noting that Rivers people would never be enslaved by political groups only interested in stealing the state’s resources.

    At the Rivers secretariat of the PDP, Wike said: “There is a grand conspiracy to take over Rivers State for reasons that are known to all of us, but God will disappoint them. I pity any INEC official who will want to be funny. Such an official should be prepared for the consequences.

    “We will use the National Assembly rerun elections to prove to the world that these unpopular politicians have been lying about Rivers State all this while. If you know anyone planning to rig the Rivers State National Assembly rerun elections, tell him to have a rethink.

    “You cannot rig in a place where you are not popular. Those planning to rig for pecuniary reason are not popular in this state. We shall return all our National Assembly members.

    “I call on Mr President to use the National Assembly to institute the change he has talked about with the National Assembly elections. Rivers State is a PDP state and we cannot be shaken in this state, because the party is deeply rooted. We cannot be intimidated with the use of soldiers and policemen during any election.”

    The Rivers governor also urged PDP leaders to maintain their resolve to challenge the forces of darkness, stressing that strong mobilisation of the people across the state should be intensified to resist those being used against the interest of the state.

    APC in Rivers, however, said: “After months of pretence and living in denial, the Governor of Rivers State, Barr. Nyesom Wike, yesterday (on Thursday), in full glare of the world on live television (African Independent Television, AIT), threw all caution to the wind, when he confirmed that he was responsible for all the killings and maiming that characterised the 2015 elections, as he openly told his PDP faithful to be ready to unleash violence in the forthcoming rerun elections in Rivers State.

    “The governor (of Rivers), who addressed his supporters at the Port Harcourt International Airport on arrival from Abuja and later at another event in Port Harcourt, asked his members to not only return any slap given to them, but do so in threefold, among other unprintable things.

    “His audience was shocked, when he warned that INEC officials sent to Rivers State who contemplate carrying out malpractices should first write their wills, as they will be put to instant death.

    “To all decent minds that saw or listened to the statements of the governor yesterday (on Thursday), Nyesom Wike’s vituperations were the ranting of a drowning man.”

    Rivers APC also stated that Wike, by his unguarded utterances in Port Harcourt on Thursday, confirmed that he was behind the violence and criminality that were strangulating Rivers state since he came to power.

    The party said: “For the APC, what happened yesterday (on Thursday) was God’s way of exposing a man, who has been living in falsehood, in order to fool the people and even God Himself. All the pretence about worshipping God, by paying visits to churches and holding prayer sessions for the benefit of television cameras, were mere attempts to mock God by Nyesom Wike, but God cannot be mocked.

    “The APC wishes to remind Nyesom Wike that his unguarded diatribe against the Nigerian state, President Muhammadu Buhari and innocent Rivers people will not be taken lightly. While immunity protects a governor from prosecution, it does not protect him from investigation.

    “We call on the relevant authorities, especially the INEC, to hold Nyesom Wike responsible for any violence or harm that may be done to INEC personnel, while on duty during the forthcoming rerun elections in Rivers State.”

    The APC in Rivers also stated that it believed that the state governor was merely talking tough to mask his inner despondency and misery, arising from his recent legal losses.

    Rivers APC noted that the discerning members of the party were smart enough to take notice of Wike’s antics, stressing that it heard that the Rivers governor was being fondly referred to as “High Tension,” but declared that “High Tension” without power, would be nothing.

  • Rivers APC dedicates Appeal Court victories to Adube family, other martyrs

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State chapter, has dedicated its candidates’ “overwhelming” victories at the Courts of Appeal, Abuja in the past two days to the members of the family of Chief Christopher Adube, who were shot dead in their home on Good Friday, April 3, 2015 and other martyrs killed before, during and after the 2015 general elections in the state.

    Rivers APC, yesterday in Port Harcourt, through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, stated that it was noteworthy that the many victories of Friday in Abuja coincided with the burial of Adube, an APC chieftain, who was a former Chairman of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers state, but killed in his house in Obrikom in the LGA, along with three of his children, younger brother and driver.

    The Court of Appeal dispossessed the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of all three “stolen” Senatorial and twelve House of Representatives’ seats from the March 28 elections, with rerun polls ordered in sixty days, from the date of judgment.

    There are thirteen House of Representatives’ seats in Rivers State, but APC’s Lucky Odili for Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni constituency, earlier lost on technical grounds of filing appeals in two different courts in Abuja and Port Harcourt, on the ruling of the election petitions tribunal in Abuja.

    The mistake made by the counsel to Odili was capitalised on by the legal team of the PDP’s candidate, Uche Nnam-Obi, the son of the paramount ruler of Ogbaland, with base in Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of the state, who will represent the federal constituency till 2019.

    Nnam-Obi’s lawyers pointed out at the Court of Appeal in Abuja that Odili filed similar matter at the appelate court in Port Harcourt, which was described as an abuse of court process, with the suit struck out, making Odili’s legal team to rush back to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, which could not deliver its judgment, until the expiration of the 180 days allowed by the tribunal to sit on a petition.

    The Rivers APC said: “We believe that there can be no better way to bid farewell to Chief Christopher Adube, who was interred yesterday (on Friday), than to dedicate the recovery of our stolen mandates to the ultimate sacrifice the late Chief Christopher Adube, his 3 children, younger brother and driver made, when they were murdered in one fell swoop in the late Chief’s home on Good Friday, April 3, 2015. We dedicate these victories to Police Corporal Ifeanyi Okorie, killed when the APC’s governorship campaign team was attacked at Okrika and close to 100 others killed before, during and after the 2015 elections in Rivers State.”

     

  • We demand justice for those killed during elections —Rivers APC guber candidate Peterside

    We demand justice for those killed during elections —Rivers APC guber candidate Peterside

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday held a procession along the streets of Port Harcourt, Rivers State which culminated in a special memorial service at the Port Harcourt, Polo Club for victims of politically motivated violence and murders in Rivers State before, during and after the last general elections in the state.

    The victims, APC claimed, are their members called the Black Day.

    The procession was led by the APC governorship candidate in the last Rivers State elections, Dr Dakuku Adol Peterside, who was accompanied by other APC leaders in the state, including Senator Magnus Abe, Chief Andrew Uchendu, the state party chairman, Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, Asita H. Asita, among others.

    The procession was held to mourn and celebrate lives cut short by the violence that characterised this year’s elections in Rivers State. Speaker after speaker decried the violence, which they claimed had continued to this day. As a matter of fact, they claimed that APC members were violently attacked on their way to the procession.

    Peterside, who is contesting the results of the governorship elections which produced Nyesom Wike of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in court, spoke to select journalists on the significance of the event and the quest for justice for victims of the violence.

    How do you rate the turnout by Rivers people for the Black Day procession for persons killed during the last elections?

    I will say the turnout was excellent. You could see the number of people who came out on the streets and at the memorial service itself, and by their turn out, I believe Rivers people have made a statement. They are saying ‘no’ to political violence, kidnapping and politically motivated assassinations.

    Unfortunately, we thought that at the end of the election in April, we would have come to the end of this matter but it has continued in different dimensions and has manifested itself in form of kidnappings, armed robberies and more assassinations because those persons who were armed by these self-centred, evil politicians have not been disarmed. And so, we have continued with the same experience as the present Rivers State government lacks the political will and the moral right to attack the issue and so we have been living with it.

    What kind of responses or solidarity have you had from people outside the state on this issue?

    From the responses we have got across the country so far, it confirms that Nigerians are in solidarity and in sympathy with the people of Rivers State on what we have gone through during the period of the elections and what we are still going through. The Nigerian people are concerned that Rivers State has remained a black spot in our democratic development and they have condemned in totality the level of violence visited on the people of Rivers State who were only trying to cast their votes in exercise of their democratic rights. And the prayer of every right-thinking Nigerian is that this should never happen again in our political development

    There were reports that several persons, especially from your party APC, were attacked on their way to the procession and the memoriam service. How true is this?

    Yes, our people were attacked. People were attacked in Abonema and I was reliably informed that a caretaker chairman in the state personally led the team that attacked several of our members in Abonema. We had the same experience in Omuma, Etche and Ikwerre Local Government Areas. In Ikwerre LGA, I was also reliably informed that  another caretaker chairman led boys who were using sticks, knives and other dangerous weapons on helpless women, women who were coming for the Black Day procession in solidarity with the souls and spirits of those who lost their lives during the elections.

    It’s unfortunate and I know that these attackers cannot escape the long arms of the law. They have refused to admit the fact that times have changed and the days of impunity and lawlessness are gone. We have drawn the attention of the security agencies at the highest echelon and I am convinced that they are doing something about it.

    The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has accused you and your party, APC, of playing politics with the lives of Rivers people who died during the elections. Also, some PDP leaders and Rivers State government officials claim that the deaths were mostly cult-related and cult clashes, and had nothing to do with the elections. What’s your response to that?

    It is most uncharitable for PDP to say that those that lost their lives during the elections died in cult-related activities. What kind of cult-related reason would lead to the killing of Chief Adube, a man who is above 65 years old? He was not only killed, but his three children, his driver, his friend and a relative who came visiting, were also murdered in cold blood. What sort of cult-related reasons would have warranted those kinds of killings?

    Now, the persons who were attacked coming for President Buhari’s rally before the elections, were they also members of a cult? What cult were they members of? Many persons were killed. Claver was killed, Nwokocha was killed, Chris Obera was killed on the day of election, and I ask, what cult do they belong to? What cult-related offence would they have committed on the day of election? The man who was killed in Tai,  what cult does he belong to? It is lack of respect for human life that would have led to the statement by any member of the PDP or official of the PDP government in Rivers State to say that they were killed for cult-related activities. It is clear that PDP has no respect for human life and it manifests everyday in their activities and the way they conduct government business.

    What hope is there for justice for the victims and families of the victims of these politically motivated violence and murders?

    The APC as a political party sympathises with all those who lost their loved ones during the carnage that took place during the elections and all those who are victims of political violence in Rivers State and we have said over and over again that we would continue to pursue justice for all those who lost their loved ones and other victims. As a corollary, we are planning to set up a political violence victims support fund and we would unveil it at the appropriate time. We are not going to rest on our oars until we see some form of justice meted out to all those who perpetrated the violence and we think that it would give some level of comfort to members of their families.