•Police probe gun attack on Wike
Political violence in Rivers State is
spiralling out of control with reports of
another explosion in a local office of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) in
the state and an alleged gun attack on
the governorship candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr.
Nyeson Wike.
The police confirmed both incidents
and said investigations were on with a
man-hunt launched for the
perpetrators.
Mr. Ahmad Muhammad, a DSP, and
Public Relations Officer of the
command, said in an interview with
the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in
Port Harcourt, on Friday, that the
attack on the APC secretariat at Ngor,
Andoni Local Government Area, was
being investigated.
“We have received a report on the
incident. Details are sketchy, but we
have commenced investigation into
the incident,” Muhammad said.
Mr Oromte Erefokuma, Chairman of
the APC in Andoni Local Government
Area, said the party office was
destroyed with dynamite in the early
hours of Friday.
“The APC office at Ngor was attacked
by unknown persons in the early hours
of Friday. Nobody was hurt, but the
office was destroyed,” he said.
Muhammad also said the police had
commenced search for gunmen who
attacked the campaign team of Mr
Wike, governorship candidate of the
PDP in the state, at Abua town, in
Abua/Odual Local Government Area.
He said the gunmen opened fire on the
campaign team on Thursday in the
afternoon.
“Policemen accompanying the team
responded and chased away the
gunmen.
“Nobody was hurt. No arrest was made
but we have commenced manhunt for
the perpetrators of the act,” the police
spokesperson said.
The PDP candidate was caught in a
cross-fire between yet-to-be identified
gunmen and security operatives at the
palace of the traditional ruler of Oda
Abua, King Kalay Obugeh, in the local
government area.
He and members of his campaign
team and party supporters had paid a
courtesy call on the traditional ruler as
part of activities to kick off his
governorship campaign in the council
when the hoodlums began shooting
sporadically from a nearby bush.
Wike and his team were said to have
been trapped in the palace of the
traditional ruler for about 45 minutes
while the gunfire exchange lasted
between the hoodlums and security
operatives attached to him.
He was rescued by a team of
policemen who were said to have been
drafted from police stations and
military formations in the area.
Condemning the attack, Wike called on
the police to investigate the incident
and make sure that those behind the
attack were brought to justice. He said
the attack was politically motivated so
as to stop him from campaigning in
the local government area.
“I enjoin the police to fish out those
behind this dastardly attack. We know
those who are involved in this. We
shall go after them. They will never
run away. The Commissioner of Police
must find out those that carried out
this attack this afternoon (Thursday).
Reacting to Wike’s allegation, Udi
Odum, a former chairman of the local
government area and a chieftain of the
APC, said the incident was instigated
by PDP to give APC and its leaders in
the local government area a bad
name.
“What is happening is essentially a
cult war between Icelanders and
Greenlanders who are largely PDP
members. I am not a member of PDP.
We are currently involved in a rigorous
political campaign for our party here.
“The day we held our rally here, I told
our supporters that their (PDP’s) aim
is to frame me up and arrest me so
that it will be easy for them to win
Abua/Odua.
“And I told our members and
supporters that even if they arrest me,
the only thing they should do for me is
to come out and vote en masse for
APC.
“What happened today (Thursday) is a
cult war. As for me, I don’t have
anything to do with cultists. So, they
should go and ask themselves what
really transpired,” he said.
The caretaker committee chairman of
Abua/Odua Local Government Area,
Gift Ogoma, also dissociated himself
from the incident, saying, “it looks like
a clash between rival cultists to me. I
am not a cultist, so I am not in a
position to say what they were fighting
over.”
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