APC accuses Wike, PDP of arming gunmen

The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday accused Governor Nyesom Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of sponsoring gunmen to attack its members in the state. The party claimed that the Governor and the ruling partyPDP- had especially since 2015 general elections been responsible for the “spate of killings and violence that have bedevilled Rivers State before, during and after the 2015 and subsequent elections in Rivers State.”
The party in statement signed by its spokesperson, Chris Finebone, urged Governor Wike to “rein in” his armed soldiers now on rampage in the streets of Port Harcourt and its environs and to “stop endangering the lives of Rivers people.” Parts of the statement reads: “The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, is miffed and highly disturbed that since the nomination process for a legally compromised local government council election for chairmen and councillors by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, shootings and maiming have, once again, resumed across Rivers State. “It is important to mention that the charade of an election is being organised by the PDP and for the PDP even though some fringe parties claim to participate.
“It is shocking to note that mere primaries for chairmen and councillors for a supposed local council election will result in the large scale shootings, maiming and violence that are now further compounding the dangers of kidnapping, robberies and killings that Rivers people and residents are living under.
“It is important to mention that the ongoing PDP-on-PDP orgy of violence underscores our consistent position that Gov. Wike and the PDP are responsible for the spate of killings and violence that have bedevilled Rivers State before, during and after the 2015 and subsequent elections in Rivers State. “These killings, whether in ONELGA or other areas of Rivers State, members of the APC have remained the target. So far, over 1000 APC souls have been lost to this PDP violence in the State from 2014 to date.
“Sadly, the violence by PDP members on fellow PDP members still carry collateral consequences on law-abiding people and residents of Rivers State including peace-loving members of the APC. “The APC believes that the present electoral malfeasance by the PDP has cleared all doubts and re-affirmed that PDP and its members are responsible for all deaths, pains and agonies the people and residents of Rivers State have had to go through from 2014 to date. To the PDP, electoral misbehaviour is ingrained in their DNA hence the ease with which they unleash it even upon their own members”, the statement said.