The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Rivers

  • We will still go to Okrika, says Rivers APC

    We will still go to Okrika, says Rivers APC

    Despite the attack unleashed on the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  and their supporters on Tuesday at Okrika, the APC has said it would still campaign in the town.

    State chairman Dr Davies Ikanya yesterday insisted that Okrika  is part of Rivers State and the party cannot be barred from going there to campaign.

    Ikanya urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to sanction the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for violating the three peace accords the political parties signed –  with INEC; the United States envoy and the police.

    He also sympathised with the victims of the attack, saying one policeman died and four were injured. Of the injured, two have been discharged.

    Ikanya said about 20 APC supporters had been discharged from hospital. Two are missing. The party, he said, is collating the figures of those affected.

    Ikanya, who accused the lawmaker representing Ogu/Bolo Constituency in the House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, of leading the people who attacked the APC rally, expressed regrets that he (Bipi) is still walking about freely. But Bipi has denied any involvement in the violence.

    He advised the Investigative Team set up by Inspector General of the Police Suleiman Abba to look into Bipi’s background.

    He did not also spare the First Lady for encouraging the mayhem. “If she cannot bring development to Rivers State, she should not bring violence to us,” Ikanya said.

  • Rivers NUJ, doctors protest attacks on members

    Rivers NUJ, doctors protest attacks on members

    Journalists and doctors in Rivers State yesterday protested what they called “unwarranted attacks” on their members in the line of duties.

    Addressing reporters yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) State Chairman Opaka Dokubo said if the attacks continued, “journalists will not attend any political event without adequate provision for their safety”.

    He added: “Enough is enough.”

    Dokubo spoke against the background of the attack on journalists at the All Progressives Congress (APC) rally in Okrika, Rivers State.

    The NUJ chairman condemned the attack on Channels Television reporter, Mr Charles Erukaa, and other reporters covering the rally.

    He recalled that Erukaa “had a bottle broken on his head and the same weapon used to stab him on the throat. He now lies critically ill in the hospital”.

    Dokubo said: “It is clear that of all the dead and injured, it is this hapless reporter that was directly attacked for no other reason than being a journalist.”

    The Rivers State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) also protested the abduction of doctors.

    NMA State Chairman Dr. Furo Green told reporters that three doctors had been abducted by gunmen in the last one week.

    Furo said the first doctor was released with a gunshot wound while the second was still being held.

    He said: “In the last five days, two doctors have been kidnapped and the third was shot, following an unsuccessful attempt at kidnapping him…”

  • Elections hold in Plateau, Rivers, three other states today

    Elections into the Football Associations of five states will take place today.

    Chairman of the NFF State Elections Monitoring Committee, Ibrahim Gusau, who is among four chairmen to have retained their seats, confirmed to thenff.com that elections will take place in Plateau, Rivers, Kebbi, Ogun and Delta states.

    Elections have already taken place in Jigawa, Niger, Kaduna and Zamfara states, meaning  one-quarter of the process would have been concluded by today.

  • Why Peterside is Rivers best choice

    It is said Rivers State is the most ethnically diverse State in Nigeria, in fact, it is so diverse every 30-50 miles you travel in the state, you’ll meet people speaking different languages. For such multi-ethnic state to be stable, the ethnicities must have devised a way of co-existence socio-politically.  Yes, we have done so democratically by respecting the rights of every ethnicity including the minorities among us.

    From the inception of political parties in the state in 1979, the ethnicities were divided into upland and riverine regions by the NPN under the leadership of Late Chief Melford Okilo, the first democratically elected governor of the state. This later gave rise to the upland/riverine dichotomy. With the creation of Bayelsa State out of the Old Rivers State, that political division gave way to the present three senatorial districts namely: Rivers West, Rivers East, and Rivers South-East senatorial districts. The map of each senatorial district maintained the upland/riverine dichotomy for fairness, equity, and peace. This meant, the boundaries of the major and minor ethnicities that constituted the upland/riverine were cut across to create each senatorial district. Again, for equity, fairness, and peace, the senators from every senatorial district has rotated between the Upland and Riverine ethnicities.

    The governor of Rivers State since 1999 has originated from the senatorial districts: Governor Peter Odili is from Rivers West Senatorial District and the current Governor Chibuike Amaechi is from Rivers East Senatorial District. However, both of them are from the upland ethnicities giving our upland brothers and sisters 16 years of control of the state governorship while the riverine ethnicities held the deputy governor position.

    Following the above logic, Governor Amaechi and the state All Progressives Congress (APC) party made two correct decisions in selecting Hon. Dakuku Peterside to be its gubernatorial flag bearer for Rivers State. First, Peterside is from the Rivers South-East Senatorial District that is next to produce a governor for the state. Second, he is from a riverine ethnicity to balance the upland ethnicities’ dominance of the state governorship. He has in turn picked an upland representative from the Rivers West Senatorial District as his running mate.

    This APC solution to the uniquely Rivers State socio-political situation is the best that shows maturity, political balance, and intellectual brilliance in comparison to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) alternative Nyesom Wike that is thoughtless, disrespectful, and irresponsible to say the least.

    Let us now scrutinize what the PDP has offered the state in Wike that made me describe their actions as I just did. As I intimated earlier, two of the three senatorial districts (Rivers West and Rivers East) have produced state governors and the next governor should emanate from Rivers South-East Senatorial District to be fair and equitable. Instead of doing this, PDP went back to Rivers East Senatorial District to pick Wike as their gubernatorial flag bearer. Besides, he is an Ikwerre man like the current governor in total violation of the above unique Rivers solution to our peaceful ethnic diversity. I read this is also one of the root causes of Amaechi/Wike saga and space does not allow me to go into any details of that.

    A few questions I’ll pose presently will encapsulate some of my concerns and make you see that the PDP has lost their moral compass and sense of decency. It buttresses the narrative of entitlement and culture of impunity forgetting they are only given the privilege to serve the nation as long as they have.

    The following questions are pertinent: Do they think Rivers State consists of only the Ikwerre ethnicity? Does it dawn on them that the other ethnicities of our multi-ethnic state deserve to be governors? By manipulating the system for Wike to emerge, do they know that such electoral tampering was an insult to the intelligence of the Rivers People?

    It is really true, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

    Further, let us review very closely what the PDP, President Jonathan, and vicariously, Wike have done for Rivers State and the Rivers people to earn their vote again, because just being a brother does not put food on the people’s table. Currently, there is no federal project in Rivers State and there has never been any since President Jonathan took office.

    Rivers State was the top Crude Oil/Natural Gas producing state, but under President Jonathan and the PDP, the state is now the third or fourth largest producer because they have given the state’s oil wells to Bayelsa, Abia, and Akwa Ibom states

    President Jonathan has taken federal projects that late President Umaru Yar’Adua allocated to Rivers State and moved them to Bayelsa State like the Nigerian Law School, relocated from Port-Harcourt to Yenagoa, Bayelsa.

    The Port-Harcourt International Airport was torn down to be expanded and beautified by President Jonathan and the PDP and for over two years now the reconstruction remains abandoned while the President is going around the country opening new and other reconstructed International Airports in Birni-Kebbi, Enugu, and other cities

    The two oil refineries in Eleme are operating only at 20%-30% capacity when they can be restored to full capacity and provide well-paying jobs to the Rivers People.

    Instead of President Jonathan bringing the South-south regional governors together frequently and work with them to economically develop the region, bring industry, commerce, and transportation infrastructures like major coastal highways, rail, and develop the Nigerian Water Front between Calabar and Lagos,  the President was busy fighting them, and undermining the governors and the states apparatus. Now at the end of six years, he has done nothing for the region, the people, and the states. What a wasted opportunity?

    Under President Jonathan, the Ijaw people are more divided than they have ever been because for him, doing that was easier than getting them together to meet their demand for jobs, education, health-care, security, entrepreneurship, economic empowerment, housing, and what have you. In effect, if the President was working well with the Rivers Ijaw leadership and people, Wike will never have the audacity to challenge their turn to produce a governor.

    What President Jonathan and the PDP has not done for Rivers State and the Rivers people in six years with all those excess crude oil revenue, they cannot do in four with falling crude oil price. In my opinion, six years was good enough for the President to showcase his vision, his ideas, strategy, competence, projects, resolve, and performance. The point then is, there is nothing new we can reasonably expect from this President, his PDP, and gubernatorial candidate for Rivers. They have outlived their usefulness and must be voted out. It is time for a change.

    Finally, I urge every registered voter in Rivers State to go out on February 14, to cast their vote because every vote matters. If the PDP offer money, take it, vote your conscience, don’t be sheepishly driven by sentiment and emotion, but use your sagacity and let this discuss inform your vote. And whatever you do, please vote for Hon. Dakuku Peterside/APC, the candidate for the right reasons of equity, peace, and stability in Rivers State.

     

    • Prof Amaye-Obu M.D. writes from New York, United States.

  • I’ll ensure accelerated development of Rivers, says Peterside

    I’ll ensure accelerated development of Rivers, says Peterside

    Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Dr Dakuku Adol Peterside, has promised accelerated development of the state.

    The APC candidate also promised to promote love and unity, if he wins the April 11 election.

    He vowed to be a good ambassador of Opobo Kingdom, if elected governor.

    Peterside made the promises at the weekend when he visited the paramount ruler of Opobo Kingdom, King Dandeson Douglas Jaja.

    The PAC candidate, who is a member of the House of Representatives, hails from Biriye Polo, in the coastal Opobo, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area.

    The 44-year-old Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), said he would protect the interest of the people.

  • ‘Peterside ’ll excel in Rivers’

    ‘Peterside ’ll excel in Rivers’

    The Director-General of the Dakuku Peterside Campaign Organisation, Chief Victor Giadom, in this interview with BISI OLANIYI, explains why the All Progressives Congress (APC) will win the governorship election in Rivers State. He also speaks about how the standard bearer, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, will build on the legacies of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and other issues.

    Can  the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer,  Nyesom Wike, at the general elections in Rivers State?

    It is common knowledge that Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon.  Rotimi Amaechi, has done well in the last eight years. It is imperative that we have a successor, who is properly schooled in leadership. We know that the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, is a former Commissioner for Works in Rivers State and he has what it takes to maintain the legacies of our performing and focused governor, the  Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Director-General of Buhari Campaign Organisation.

    He has been in the House of Representatives. I know that he has no other option, but to perform much better than Amaechi. It is the dream of every father to have a son that will do better than him.

    We are confident that one of the things we will achieve from the candidature of Peterside is improved and quality governance in Rivers State. So, we feel very proud and extremely honoured that our candidate will do the very best. You should expect the best from the Rivers APC’s governorship candidate, when he eventually wins the election. God willing, he will be inaugurated as the governor of Rivers State on May 29 this year.

    Dr. Peterside and his campaign team are not bothered about the noise being made by Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Minister of State for Education and his few supporters. They may depend on guns, bombs, thugs, dynamites, federal might, President Jonathan and his wife. But, we will continue to put our trust only in God and rely on the support of Rivers people,  who are ready to massively vote for Dr. Peterside.

    What is your assessment of the campaign so far?

    We have campaigned in some of the 23 local government areas of Rivers State. I am assuring Rivers people that Dr. Peterside will campaign in all the 23 local governments. Our campaign have been successful and will continue to be successful. We are focusing on issues and not abusing people or attacking personalities, the way PDP leaders are doing. We are on course. We will continue to leverage on our performance. We know that we have done well; to drive home our message and it will not be difficult for the electorate to embrace our  our candidate.

    Wike has made some allegations against Governor Amaechi and Peterside. How will you disabuse the minds of the people before the elections?

    I know that members of the public, especially Rivers people, are aware of the truth. They know that the government of Amaechi has done well in the past eight years. As Commissioner for Works, Dr. Peterside performed impressively before moving to the House of Representatives, where he is currently representing Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency. He is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and he is doing well in that regard.

    Are you comfortable leading Peterside’s Campaign Organisation?

    This is not new to me. By the grace of God, I successfully led the Presidential campaign in Rivers State in 2011. This is not a new terrain to me. I know what to do to also deliver Dr. Peterside on election day. I have my strategies and a very strong team of eminent personalities, who are highly experienced in politics. I am focused and I know that God will give us victory.

    Don’t you think the reconciliation in the PDP will affect the chances of the APC at the poll?

    We are not looking for people who are aggrieved in the PDP, but if they feel that they can find their future in the APC, we will not stop them. We have a membership that can drive the success of our great party, the APC. We have the kind of membership that will give us victory.

  • Averting violence in Rivers elections

    Averting violence in Rivers elections

    Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya is the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State in this piece, he highlights what he describes as the atrocities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against APC members and the implications for the general elections. He warns that the state may slip into violence, if the acts of terror are not checked.

    The greatest obstacle to democratic consolidation in Nigeria is electoral violence. Pre-election violence is as a result of the rascally disposition of some desperate and greedy politicians, who want to secure electoral victory by subverting the process and undermining the rule of law. Whilst the threat of bloodshed has always been in the air in Rivers State since the countdown to the general elections started, the upsurge in the incidence of violence in the state in recent times is worrisome. Apart from the fact that this phenomenon affects the credibility of the electoral process, the legitimacy of the election results and the rule of law, the nature, extent and magnitude of violence indicate unequivocally that it is a deliberate tool for intimidation and terror adopted as a policy and backed by security institutions who are paid from our commonwealth to protect our citizens.

     

    Electoral violence

    Electoral violence is any random or organized act that seeks to determine, delay or otherwise influence an electoral process through threat, verbal intimidation, hate speech, disinformation, physical assault, forced protection, destruction of property or assassination. The aim of electoral violence is either to influence the outcome of the process or to disrupt the entire electoral process.

    The Federal Government under the collegiate presidency of Dr. and Dame Goodluck Jonathan adopted a deliberate policy of state-sponsored violence against Rivers people when it deployed Mbu Joseph Mbu intentionally to promote (through manifestly corrupt and illicit means) the ascendancy of Mr. Nyesom Wike to political infamy. Mr. Mbu’s antics are too numerous and very well publicized. However, it may be necessary to remind us that since the day he shamelessly escorted known criminals and outlaws through the streets of Port Harcourt in the guise of a demonstration, violence triumphantly returned to Rivers State

    The PDP, having established its machinery for violence, began to unleash mayhem in the form of physical attacks on the APC members, killing and causing grievous bodily harm on our members.

    Attack on House of Assembly

    The absurdity of the attack on the House of Assembly would confound any right-thinking person who knows that there are 32 members of the House of Assembly out of which, five purportedly tried to impeach the Speaker. In the course of their quest to regain lawful access to the House of Assembly complex, the remaining 27 members were forced to sit on the bare surface of Moscow Road from where Mr. Mbu dispersed them with tear gas. Mr. Mbu left Rivers State in exceedingly controversial circumstances, after presiding over the return of Rivers State to a near state of anarchy into the warm embrace of the president and his dear wife who promptly rewarded him with a “well deserved” promotion. His legacies include the return of hitherto outlawed warlords who have re-established their camps and are operating visibly. Before he was redeployed, his atrocities reached its apogee with the attempted murder of Senator Magnus Abe when police men on his orders attacked Save Rivers Movement members at College of Arts and Science premises in Rumuola, Port Harcourt.

     

    Violence against APC members

    The following are but a few of the known cases of death and grievous bodily injuries caused our members by the PDP through its members and hirelings.

    Perhaps, the most brazen of all attacks took place in the early morning of the flag-off of the Presidential Campaign of the APC in Port Harcourt. Two different sets of gun men attacked buses conveying the party supporters from different parts of the state to Port Harcourt. The buses located several hundred kilometers from each other were riddled with bullets. A day after the attack, the police naively dismissed the attacks as incidents of armed robbery. Whilst it must be noted that nothing was stolen from the victims, one must ask the police why the “robbers” isolated APC members on the same day, at about the same time and in two different locations in the state?

    Many APC supporters on their way to the official flag-off of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential campaign were attacked by gun men near Harry’s Town in Degema and Sakpenwa in Tai. The cowards were not bold enough to do it without hiding under face masks. They left many unconscious and in their pool of blood and fled into anonymity to spend the filthy money from their cowardly masters.

    After this, the APC secretariat in Okrika, the home of Madam Patience Jonathan was destroyed by a bomb explosion. Whilst no life was lost, party members have been terrorized and the message is clear that the PDP and its dangerously armed terrorist gangs will not allow the APC to lawfully contest for the votes in Okrika Local Government Area.

    Chief Orerehim was on the 10th of January beaten alongside others when they were having a caucus meeting at Oro-owo, Rumueme, Ward 10, Obio-Akpor LGA by thugs. He was seriously beaten and injured. He reported the matter to Rukpakani Police Station, Ada George Road. But, no arrest, invitation or investigation was made by the police.

    On January 22 in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, some group of PDP thugs destroyed APC billboards/banners and injured one Mr. Precious Tende. That was the third time Evans Bipi and his cohorts had willfully destroyed APC banners/billboards in Ogu, headquarters of the Local Government Area. the Ogu Council of Chiefs, the police at Ogu, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Joint Task Force Unit are all aware of it.

    The following day, some PDP thugs numbering about 24 attacked the private residence of Barr. Cyprian Chukwu, a member of the APC in Ward 9, destroying valuable properties. He was lucky not to be at home when they came. They decapitated a young man in the premises and he is lying critically ill in the hospital with machete wounds on both arms.

    In the early hours of January 24, thugs on the orders of Mrs. Patience Jonathan, PDP attacked the National field in Okrika which was to be the venue of an APC rally scheduled for that day with guns and explosive devices and destroyed a musical/public address system, canopies, podium and chairs. Thereafter, they attacked the residence of APC Councilors and members in Okrika Local Government Area. The police are yet to make any arrests.

     

    Aiding and abetting by police

    Most of these heinous crimes have been aided and abetted by the police. In some cases, they simply looked the other way whilst the crimes were committed. In other instances, they arrested the APC complainants or members of supporters on phantom charges just to neutralize the political influence of the APC in the area. Below are some of the flagrant cases of police harassment, intimidation, unlawful arrests and detention against members and supporters of APC in Rivers State.

     

    Victimisation, arrest and detention

    In Omuma Local Government Area, Hon. Emeka Wogu, a former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, a former Commissioner and currently Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Omuma Local Government Council was arrested and accused of shooting at Mr. President’s billboard. Meanwhile, on the fateful day (August 25, 2014), he was at a Joint Allocation Committee meeting in Port Harcourt and was nowhere near the scene of the incident at Omuma Local Government Area. He arrested on August 27, 2014 by over 60 armed policemen in a commando style, handcuffed in the presence of his children and detained for two days. He was subsequently released without any charge.

    In Ikwerre Local Government Area, Godwin Wojinda was arrested by the SARS squad of the police for stopping one Isi from running away with permanent voters cards (PVCs) belonging to ward 3, Omagwe, Ikwerre Local Government Area. He is still in police detention even when the culprit returned the hijacked material to the INEC Local Government Area Electoral Officer. He was not arrested; rather it was the complainant that was clamped into detention by the police.

     

    Anxiety over polls

    As the general elections approach, the scale, magnitude and intensity of the orchestrated violence against members of the APC has been assuming a frightful dimension, necessitating that we cry out to Nigerians and the international community. Our plight is akin to that of a people in a militarily conquered and occupied territory. PDP thugs and hirelings practically commit murders under the watchful and protective eyes of the police without as much as a slap on the wrist. The objective is obviously to antagonize and intimidate our supporters into believing that it is unsafe for them to come out and vote, thus effectively disenfranchising them.

    We make this distress call to all men, women, organizations, nations and people who cherish democracy to intervene before it is too late. It is unimaginable that a president, who is from the Niger Delta region and who assumed office on the wings of agitations for equity and justice, would permit unprovoked and premeditated violent attacks on the same people he hopes to ride on their primordial sentiments to secure his second term. The president’s cavalier attitude to the escalating violence in the state borders on criminal negligence because he knows or ought to know (or in the least remember) the level of arms in circulation and the historical volatility of the state (and region).

    We call on Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, the relevant organs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to immediately commence independent inquiries into the gruesome attacks and killings in Rivers State. We call on these and other humanitarian and democratic organizations and institutions to set high-powered election monitoring networks, teams and processes to monitor the election in Rivers State to avert unnecessary bloodbath, which may cripple our already weakened economy. An acceptable electoral outcome is possible in Rivers State, but only if the elections are truly free and fair. There cannot be free and fair election, if the spate of violence, high handedness, intimidation and terror is not halted. We pledge to remain law abiding but we shall defend ourselves, our people and their votes by all lawful means.

  • Rivers NBA begins voters’ sensitisation awareness

    The Nigerian Bar Association, Isiokpo branch in Ikwerre Local government of Rivers State has kicked off voters sensitisation exercise to educate the people especially the youths on how to vote wisely.

    The campaign which started  on Monday at the palace of the paramount ruler of Emohua, HRM, Eze V.C.D Okor was attended by traditional rulers, chiefs, clan heads, women and youths of the area.

    Educating the voters, the chairman of Nigerian Bar association Isiokpo branch Mr. Promise Wobo Iwezor said the sensitization campaign came as a result of the task given to all branches of NBA by the National president, Augustine Alege.

    Iwezor said their mission is to sensitize end mobilize the people of area on election and voting matters to promote peace and orderliness during the February general election.

    He thanked the paramount ruler of Emohua for given them the opportunity to address his subjects, adding their effort would contribute to the success of the 2015 general election.

    “From today we have started the voters’ sensitization awareness; thank God we started from the palace. The objective is to create voters awareness with believe that we will achieve desired result.

    “We are doing everything possible to ensure crisis free election; the awareness campaign is going down to the grassroots. Of course, what we are doing is in line with NBA’s agreement at the end of her National workshop in Abuja.”

     

     

  • Rotary sets up accident victim trust Funds in Rivers

    The Rotary Club of Port Harcourt, District 9140 says it has set up an accident Trust Fund to help road accident victims get prompt attention when rushed to hospital.

    The district President, Frank Eni disclosed this in a statement in Port Harcourt the state capital yesterday to kick-off programme to mark 50 years of the club in Port Harcourt.

    Eni said the Fund which was a joint programme with members of the state Road Transport Workers Union and the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), where the programme is running is meant to reduce the number of deaths by road accident in the state.

    He said the club also provided some essential needs for those in admission in the hospital, especially at the hospital’s emergency ward.

    The President said the programme has helped in the survival of many accident  victims in the state since it began several years ago; also said, it is one of the numerous humanitarian programmes the club undertakes in its efforts to assist humanity.

    “The programme was a response to the frequent deaths of accident victims in the hospital because of lack of emergence drugs and materials.

    “We have also donated oxygen masks and incubators to Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH) to provide life support for children born underweight.

    “To address the issue of infant mortality, the club procured Bilirubinmeter for Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH). Bilirubinmeter measures the bilirin, one of the causes of infant mortality in children.

    “To also address the difficulties associated with the treatment of ear, nose and throat ailments, the club donated Adenotensiloctomy set to the ENT department”.

    “In furtherance of its drive in health awareness campaigns, Eni stressed that the club has also intensified public awareness on the causes of “breast cancer; cervical cancer; prostate cancer; diabetes; sickle cell anaemia and maternal health.” Among others

    He also enumerated the various efforts of the club in partnership with the governments to ensure Polio Myelitis is completely eradicated in Nigeria.

    “Our members have on a number of occasions joined the medical team of the state government to visit rural areas to immunise children against polio as well as sensitise the populace on the need to get our children immunised”.

    The district governor, His Royal Magesty, HRM, Noble Eshemitan, enjoined members to strive to give their very best to the growth and development of the club in the state.

    He admitted that the inability of the club to openly canvass for membership was a major challenge because the norm in rotary is for members to bring/invite persons to join and not for a prospective member applying for admission personally.

    According to him, the obvious  laziness of existing members is responsible for the slow growth of the club.

     

  • Averting violence in Rivers elections

    Averting violence in Rivers elections

    Chief Daveis Ibiamu Ikanya is the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State. In this piece, he highlights what he describes as the atrocities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against APC members and the implications for the general elections. He warns that the state may slip into violence, if the acts of terror are not checked.

    he greatest obstacle to democratic consolidation in Nigeria is electoral violence. Pre-election violence is as a result of the rascally disposition of some desperate and greedy politicians, who want to secure electoral victory by subverting the process and undermining the rule of law. Whilst the threat of bloodshed has always been in the air in Rivers State since the countdown to the general elections started, the upsurge in the incidence of violence in the state in recent times is worrisome. Apart from the fact that this phenomenon affects the credibility of the electoral process, the legitimacy of the election results and the rule of law, the nature, extent and magnitude of violence indicate unequivocally that it is a deliberate tool for intimidation and terror adopted as a policy and backed by security institutions who are paid from our commonwealth to protect our citizens.

     

    Electoral violence

    Electoral violence is any random or organized act that seeks to determine, delay or otherwise influence an electoral process through threat, verbal intimidation, hate speech, disinformation, physical assault, forced protection, destruction of property or assassination. The aim of electoral violence is either to influence the outcome of the process or to disrupt the entire electoral process.

    The Federal Government under the collegiate presidency of Dr. and Dame Goodluck Jonathan adopted a deliberate policy of state-sponsored violence against Rivers people when it deployed Mbu Joseph Mbu intentionally to promote (through manifestly corrupt and illicit means) the ascendancy of Mr. Nyesom Wike to political infamy. Mr. Mbu’s antics are too numerous and very well publicized. However, it may be necessary to remind us that since the day he shamelessly escorted known criminals and outlaws through the streets of Port Harcourt in the guise of a demonstration, violence triumphantly returned to Rivers State

    The PDP, having established its machinery for violence, began to unleash mayhem in the form of physical attacks on the APC members, killing and causing grievous bodily harm on our members.

    Attack on House of Assembly

    The absurdity of the attack on the House of Assembly would confound any right-thinking person who knows that there are 32 members of the House of Assembly out of which, five purportedly tried to impeach the Speaker. In the course of their quest to regain lawful access to the House of Assembly complex, the remaining 27 members were forced to sit on the bare surface of Moscow Road from where Mr. Mbu dispersed them with tear gas. Mr. Mbu left Rivers State in exceedingly controversial circumstances, after presiding over the return of Rivers State to a near state of anarchy into the warm embrace of the president and his dear wife who promptly rewarded him with a “well deserved” promotion. His legacies include the return of hitherto outlawed warlords who have re-established their camps and are operating visibly. Before he was redeployed, his atrocities reached its apogee with the attempted murder of Senator Magnus Abe when police men on his orders attacked Save Rivers Movement members at College of Arts and Science premises in Rumuola, Port Harcourt.

     

    Violence against APC members

    The following are but a few of the known cases of death and grievous bodily injuries caused our members by the PDP through its members and hirelings.

    Perhaps, the most brazen of all attacks took place in the early morning of the flag-off of the Presidential Campaign of the APC in Port Harcourt. Two different sets of gun men attacked buses conveying the party supporters from different parts of the state to Port Harcourt. The buses located several hundred kilometers from each other were riddled with bullets. A day after the attack, the police naively dismissed the attacks as incidents of armed robbery. Whilst it must be noted that nothing was stolen from the victims, one must ask the police why the “robbers” isolated APC members on the same day, at about the same time and in two different locations in the state?

    Many APC supporters on their way to the official flag-off of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential campaign were attacked by gun men near Harry’s Town in Degema and Sakpenwa in Tai. The cowards were not bold enough to do it without hiding under face masks. They left many unconscious and in their pool of blood and fled into anonymity to spend the filthy money from their cowardly masters.

    After this, the APC secretariat in Okrika, the home of Madam Patience Jonathan was destroyed by a bomb explosion. Whilst no life was lost, party members have been terrorized and the message is clear that the PDP and its dangerously armed terrorist gangs will not allow the APC to lawfully contest for the votes in Okrika Local Government Area.

    Chief Orerehim was on the 10th of January beaten alongside others when they were having a caucus meeting at Oro-owo, Rumueme, Ward 10, Obio-Akpor LGA by thugs. He was seriously beaten and injured. He reported the matter to Rukpakani Police Station, Ada George Road. But, no arrest, invitation or investigation was made by the police.

    On January 22 in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, some group of PDP thugs destroyed APC billboards/banners and injured one Mr. Precious Tende. That was the third time Evans Bipi and his cohorts had willfully destroyed APC banners/billboards in Ogu, headquarters of the Local Government Area. the Ogu Council of Chiefs, the police at Ogu, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Joint Task Force Unit are all aware of it.

    The following day, some PDP thugs numbering about 24 attacked the private residence of Barr. Cyprian Chukwu, a member of the APC in Ward 9, destroying valuable properties. He was lucky not to be at home when they came. They decapitated a young man in the premises and he is lying critically ill in the hospital with machete wounds on both arms.

    In the early hours of January 24, thugs on the orders of Mrs. Patience Jonathan, PDP attacked the National field in Okrika which was to be the venue of an APC rally scheduled for that day with guns and explosive devices and destroyed a musical/public address system, canopies, podium and chairs. Thereafter, they attacked the residence of APC Councilors and members in Okrika Local Government Area. The police are yet to make any arrests.

     

    Aiding and abetting by police

    Most of these heinous crimes have been aided and abetted by the police. In some cases, they simply looked the other way whilst the crimes were committed. In other instances, they arrested the APC complainants or members of supporters on phantom charges just to neutralize the political influence of the APC in the area. Below are some of the flagrant cases of police harassment, intimidation, unlawful arrests and detention against members and supporters of APC in Rivers State.

     

    Victimisation, arrest and detention

    In Omuma Local Government Area, Hon. Emeka Wogu, a former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, a former Commissioner and currently Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Omuma Local Government Council was arrested and accused of shooting at Mr. President’s billboard. Meanwhile, on the fateful day (August 25, 2014), he was at a Joint Allocation Committee meeting in Port Harcourt and was nowhere near the scene of the incident at Omuma Local Government Area. He arrested on August 27, 2014 by over 60 armed policemen in a commando style, handcuffed in the presence of his children and detained for two days. He was subsequently released without any charge.

    In Ikwerre Local Government Area, Godwin Wojinda was arrested by the SARS squad of the police for stopping one Isi from running away with permanent voters cards (PVCs) belonging to ward 3, Omagwe, Ikwerre Local Government Area. He is still in police detention even when the culprit returned the hijacked material to the INEC Local Government Area Electoral Officer. He was not arrested; rather it was the complainant that was clamped into detention by the police.

     

    Anxiety over polls

    As the general elections approach, the scale, magnitude and intensity of the orchestrated violence against members of the APC has been assuming a frightful dimension, necessitating that we cry out to Nigerians and the international community. Our plight is akin to that of a people in a militarily conquered and occupied territory. PDP thugs and hirelings practically commit murders under the watchful and protective eyes of the police without as much as a slap on the wrist. The objective is obviously to antagonize and intimidate our supporters into believing that it is unsafe for them to come out and vote, thus effectively disenfranchising them.

    We make this distress call to all men, women, organizations, nations and people who cherish democracy to intervene before it is too late. It is unimaginable that a president, who is from the Niger Delta region and who assumed office on the wings of agitations for equity and justice, would permit unprovoked and premeditated violent attacks on the same people he hopes to ride on their primordial sentiments to secure his second term. The president’s cavalier attitude to the escalating violence in the state borders on criminal negligence because he knows or ought to know (or in the least remember) the level of arms in circulation and the historical volatility of the state (and region).

    We call on Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, the relevant organs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to immediately commence independent inquiries into the gruesome attacks and killings in Rivers State. We call on these and other humanitarian and democratic organizations and institutions to set high-powered election monitoring networks, teams and processes to monitor the election in Rivers State to avert unnecessary bloodbath, which may cripple our already weakened economy. An acceptable electoral outcome is possible in Rivers State, but only if the elections are truly free and fair. There cannot be free and fair election, if the spate of violence, high handedness, intimidation and terror is not halted. We pledge to remain law abiding but we shall defend ourselves, our people and their votes by all lawful means.