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Tag: Rivers APC

  • Rivers APC, PDP clash over alleged plot to steal card readers

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State yesterday traded words over an alleged plot to break into the warehouse of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and steal card readers.

    Rivers APC chair Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya alleged that the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan has perfected arrangements with the state’s leaders of the PDP to break into INEC’s warehouse and steal the card readers for general elections.

    Ikanya, yesterday in Port Harcourt, through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Public Affairs, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, stated that the arrangements were recently perfected.

    But, the Rivers PDP Publicity Secretary, Samuel Nwanosike,  described the claim as a lie and frivolous, warning the APC leaders against dragging the First Family, especially the First Lady, into Rivers politics.

    The President’s wife, an indigene of Okrika, the headquarters of Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers state, had earlier stated that her husband would win majority of votes cast on March 28, but Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the Director-General of Buhari Campaign Organisation, declared that the First Lady was daydreaming.

    Nwanosike said: “APC leaders and members in Rivers State are so desperate to win at all costs. The allegation by Ikanya shows that the APC members have actually made up their minds to steal the card readers from INEC’s warehouse.

    “PDP members do not have such plan, because we have campaigned round the 23 LGAs of Rivers State and the people are ready to massively vote for all the candidates of the PDP. The First Lady cannot be involved in such criminal act. Rivers APC members just want to drag the First Family into Rivers politics, with their ridiculous and frivolous allegation. APC and Amaechi have failed.”

    Ikanya said: “We wish to alert the security agencies and the general public of the diabolical plan by the leadership of Rivers PDP to break into INEC warehouse in Port Harcourt to steal the smart card reading machines. According to our informant in PDP’s campaign organisation, who was privy to the sinister plot, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of Rivers INEC, who has been compromised, assured the Rivers PDP chieftains that the gate of INEC would be thrown open around 2 a.m. on March 26, for what has been tagged ‘Operation Bat.’

    Ikanya said: “If this fails, then option two will be used, which is to frustrate INEC officials from using the smart card readers in Rivers State or totally stop the conduct of the elections in the state, to save the party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan from imminent defeat awaiting them during the 2015 polls in the state.”

     

  • Rivers APC protests killings

    Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State yesterday marched on the Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt over alleged indiscriminate killing, arrest and detention of their colleagues.

    The protesters, armed with placards bearing various inscriptions and singing anti-Federal Government songs, occupied the Police Headquarters on Moscow Road for some hours, vowing to continue doing so daily, until the police stopped the alleged indiscriminate arrest of APC members in the state.

    The leaders of the protesters were later received by the Rivers Commissioner of Police, Dan Bature. They subsequently proceeded to the state’s headquarters of the Department of State Security (DSS).

    The aggrieved APC members were led by Commissioner for Agriculture Emma Chindah and Asari-Toru Local Government Chairman Ojukaye Flag-Amachree.

    As early as 6 a.m., the protesters had taken over the city’s major roads and streets. There was a huge traffic snarl. The police deployed many Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and Toyota Hilux patrol vans but nobody was harassed all through the over five hours that the peaceful protest lasted.

    Some of the placards read: “Another Mbu is here”; “Stop politically-motivated arrest of APC members”; “CP Bature, be neutral”; “Nigeria police or PDP police”; “CP Bature, be professional”; “Use police against criminals, not against citizens”; “Leave Rivers APC members alone, Nigeria police”; “Is Nigeria Police Force an arm of PDP in Rivers State?”; “Don’t make Rivers a police state”; “Have police stopped being our friends? CP Bature, please answer us now” and “We say no to indiscriminate arrest of APC members.”

    Others included: “Mbu and Bature, any difference?”; “Stop harassing and arresting APC members in Rivers State, Nigeria Police”; Nigeria Police Force, agent of PDP”; “Release our brothers now”; “Police in Rivers State acting as security of PDP”; “Democracy is threatened by police in Rivers State”; “Release our husbands now” and “We say no to violent elections, unjust arrests in Rivers State.”

  • Rivers APC insists on redeployment of Mbu

    Rivers APC insists on redeployment of Mbu

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State chapter, yesterday insisted that the controversial Police Commissuioner Mbu Joseph Mbu, must be redeployed to ensure peace.

    The party is also compiling a dossier on the Cross River State-born Mbu, for submission to the United Nations (UN), with a three-man committee inaugurated and given two weeks to complete the assignment and submit its report.

    The Rivers APC, through its Interim Chairman, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, noted that the three-man committee would compile a comprehensive list of atrocities by the commissioner of police, since he assumed office in February, last year.

    The three-man committee is headed by Chief Andy Nweye, with Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze as Secretary and Chief Emeka Bekee as a member.

    At the panel’s inauguration , Ikanya noted that the members were chosen based on merit and expressed confidence that they would do a good job.

    APC chairman said: “This committee is made up of well-informed political experts and meticulous researchers. So, I expect you to come up with a list of not less than 100 sins of CP Mbu against Rivers State and its people, for formal submission to the UN.

    “It seems that the Nigerian Institutions in charge of the Police Force in Nigeria are toying with the security and lives of the people of Rivers State.

    “The assignment is difficult, but CP Mbu has made your work easy by his brazen partisanship in favour of the opposition Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in the state.

    “As a result of his overzealousness to impress his masters, as an undeclared member of the PDP, the Rivers police commissioner commits a fresh sin against the good people of Rivers State almost on a daily basis.

    “Since he (Mbu) assumed duty here (Rivers State) in February 2013, Rivers State has not known peace and the state now perches at the edge of the precipice, security-wise.”

    Ikanya also expressed surprise that all arguments by well-meaning Nigerians, including the National Assembly members, for Mbu’s redeployment, had fallen on the deaf ears of the police authorities in Abuja and the Federal Government.

    The Rivers APC chairman expressed strong belief that there would surely be a day of reckoning, when Mbu would be called to account for his stewardship in Rivers state.

  • Rivers APC, PDP disagree

    Rivers APC, PDP disagree

    The Rivers chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disagreed sharply over yesterday’s shooting in Port Harcourt.

    The APC, through its Interim State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, noted that it was shocked and shattered by the news of the unwarranted shooting of Abe and disruption of the inauguration of the SRM.

    The APC said: “We could not understand why policemen, paid with taxpayers’ money, could turn their guns against the people, including prominent citizens, who are well known to them – thus ruling out the possibility of a mistake in the said shooting.”

    The party condemned what it described as “premeditated murder of our children” and “attempted murder of two prominent and innocent citizens by the police which seem happy to transform into an army of occupation, instead of discharging its constitutional role of safeguarding lives and property. “This is a declaration of war on Rivers State and its people,” it said.

    The party said it was holding Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu responsible for the casualties.

    “We have shouted ourselves hoarse that Mbu is on a mission to cause mayhem and insecurity in Rivers State, but sadly, the powers that brought him to Rivers State for this mission, not only continued to sustain him, but also continued to empower him in his acts of impunity in Rivers State,” the party said, adding:

    “This man (Mbu) had on various occasions abused, insulted and vilified our elected State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, claiming that he (Mbu) is the Chief Security Officer of Rivers State and not the Governor, as stipulated by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    The opposition party also stated that the Rivers police commissioner had on many occasions given police cover to the members of the GDI while denying the same services to other political groups in the state, including SRM.

    The APC also demanded the immediate release of a former member of the House of Representatives, Ike Chinwo, who was arrested by the police after yesterday’s mayhem.

    The Rivers PDP described as laughable, the allegations levelled against some leaders of the party, especially the Supervising Minister of Education Nyesom Wike.

    The PDP, through Pastor Jerry Needam, the Special Adviser, Media to the Chairman, Chief Felix Obuah, alleged that the Save Rivers Movement (SRM) did not obtain police permit, before yesterday’s rally, which it said made the police to stop the members.

    The PDP said: “In November 2013, when Governor Rotimi Amaechi led irate youths to destroy the gate to the Port Harcourt International Airport, he directed all his loyalists to henceforth physical confront the police in Rivers State.

    “Senator Magnus Abe, Tony Okocha and others today (yesterday) confronted the police, as earlier directed by their master, Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

    “It is most shameful and disgraceful that a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Abe) would reduce to the level of confronting the Nigeria Police and turned a law breaker.

    “The actions of Magnus Abe and Tony Okocha today (yesterday), underscore Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s level of lawlessness and rascality.”

    The PDP also described as “unfounded,” the shooting Abe, a former Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), the killing of 5 children, as stated by the APC in Rivers state and taking the senator out of Port Harcourt yesterday evening in a private jet as laughable.

    The ruling party said: “We challenge Governor Rotimi Amaechi, APC and their co-travellers to show us a bullet wound on Senator Magnus Abe.

    “Their claim that Senator Magnus Abe was shot and wounded, as shown in pictures being circulated, and being flown out for better treatment, are all untrue and completely false.

    “Their aim therefore, is to continue to further paint false impression that Senator Magnus Abe was shot and wounded by the police, to justify their call for the removal of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu.”

    The PDP in Rivers also stated that Wike and the PDP in the state had no hands in the APC and SRM’s alleged “concocted” lies, which it said were aimed at deceiving the Rivers people and other Nigerians.