Youths from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State on Monday took their protest over the continued attack on members of the All Progressives Congress to the state Police Command in Port Harcourt.
The youths, led by the APC leader in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Chief Tony Okocha, expressed dissatisfaction over the bombing of their party secretariat in Okrika and the attack on supporters in Obio/Akpor. Continue..
Apart from the attack on APC supporters in Obio/Akpor on Sunday, the party secretariat in Okrika Local Government Area was also bombed by unknown hoodlums.
But the youths, who marched from Okocha’s residence in Port Harcourt to the state Police Command on Moscow Road, urged the police to act fast and protect members of the APC from the incessant attacks.
The protesters, who gathered at about 8am, displayed placards with various inscriptions such as, ‘We want police protection in Obio/Akpo,’ ‘This one is not democracy, it is dictatorship,’ ‘Police supervised manhandling of APC members in Rumuolumeni, ‘Are APC members in Obio/Akpor not Nigerians?’ and ‘Police aiding PDP thugs in Obio/Akpor’.
In his remark, Okocha, who is a House of Representatives candidate on the platform of the APC, addressed the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Dan Bature, saying they were at the command to express their dissatisfaction over the orgy of violence against members of the APC in Obio/Akpor.
Okocha, who described Bature as a professional police officer, explained that the people of the state had in the past believed that the police were conspiring with the PDP due to the former leadership of the police command.
He said, “Before now, the people of Obio/Akpor in APC believed that the police were in league with the PDP; that was before you (Bature) came on board. We are happy that so far, you have shown that you are a professional.
“We (APC) in Obio/Akpo assure you that we will not be violent. The whole idea of a political party is for you to sell your ideas and philosophies to the public in a peaceful way in other to win elections and a form a government.
“We are not in the business of destroying billboards and campaign materials. So, let them (the PDP) desist from destroying ours and attacking our members. That is why we came to formally complain to you.”
Bature, in his response, promised that his command would continue to protect members of all political parties in order to provide a level-playing field for everybody during the forthcoming general elections.
Thanking the protesters for conducting themselves peacefully, Bature pointed out that protests on issues of security were normal in a democracy.
“We (police) will not take sides in the coming elections. All the complaints you have made have been noted and we are looking into them. We will provide a level-playing field and security for all Nigerians in the state. That, I can assure you.
“We are determined to prove critics wrong by ensuring that Nigeria gets it right. We believe that the 2015 elections will be peaceful,” the state police commissioner added
Meanwhile, the PDP in Rivers State has condemned the bombing of the APC office.
The state PDP explained that it received with sadness the report of the destruction of the building and called on security agencies to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book.
A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the state Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Jerry Needam, appealed to politicians to play politics with love, tolerance and fairness.
Expressing the belief that those involved in the bombing of the APC secretariat in Okrika must have done it out of an ill-conceived motive, the state PDP frowned on an earlier statement credited to the governorship candidate of the APC in the state, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, that the PDP supporters were responsible for the act.
“The Rivers State chapter of the PDP received the reported destruction of a building accommodating the Local Government Council Office of the APC in Okrika with sadness, and calls on the security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators of such needless action are brought to book.
“The party believes that whoever carried out such a reckless act may have done it out of ill-conceived motive, not germane to democratic principles, appealing to all politicians to play politics with love, tolerance and fairness,” the statement read.
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