Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, has raised the alarm over a plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to assassinate the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside.
Amaechi, who raised the alarm while speaking with journalists in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Monday, also said he had lost confidence in the Nigerian Police, lamenting that the police was working for the Peoples Democratic Party.
The governor specifically said that the 2015 election in the state was between the APC and the police, adding that the state police command had arrested some of his party members with the threat to arrest 400 more.
Amaechi alleged that the police withdrew their operatives attached to some members of the APC while allowing those attached to PDP candidates and members to remain intact.
“You will recall that on February 17, 2015, there was an attempt on the life of the APC governorship candidate, Hon Dakuku Adol Peterside, when he went for a campaign rally in Okrika.
“From reliable intelligence available to the APC, it is believed by the PDP that assassinating Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside is the last resort and only way of stopping the victory of the APC in the forthcoming elections based on the popularity and acceptability of the APC Candidate amongst Rivers voters.
“The fears of the Campaign Organization are however heightened by the recent act of withdrawal of Police Security from top APC chieftains in the State including (incredulously) that of her governorship candidate, Hon. Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside.
“This fear is fuelled by the unanswered question as to whether this withdrawal of security personnel is linked to the aforesaid story of plans to assassinate Dr. Peterside.
“Those hired for this assassination attempt are still roaming free in Port Harcourt, housed and catered for by Barrister Nyesom Wike, the PDP governorship candidate in Iwaikwowo Hotel, off Oroekpo road, owned by one Promise Onuoha, Nyesom Wike’s cousin.
“Unfortunately the Nigeria Police Force in Rivers State has led to a great escalation of these acts of killings, unlawful arrests and detention on frivolous and unsubstantiated reasons as well as constant and un-abating harassment using the very same police meant to protect all sides. Specifically DCP John Amadi, DC Operations and Promise Nwosu, head of SARS are in the fore of this”, Amaechi said.
The Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum described as ‘most ridiculous’, the withdrawal of police security for top APC members including that of the governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.
According to him, “Where then we may ask, lies our hope and the hope of the common man and all seekers of justice and protection if the police in Rivers State can so blatantly and unashamedly take sides in the politics of the State?
“The point remains that the police commissioner is not acceptable to Rivers State Government. So, why should I have confidence in them?
“If they remove the police from the ballot, we will accept the result. I have told you that the election in Rivers State is between the Rivers State APC and the Nigeria Police Command in Rivers State. It is either you put the police on the ballot so that we know that there is a party called the Nigeria Police or they remove them from the ballot and allow us face PDP.
“In Rivers State, the APC is not fighting with PDP. The election is not between us and the PDP; the election in Rivers State is between us and the police.
“As we are talking here, if they have not arrested up to 400, they have threatened up to 400 persons of arrest. Over 30 members of the APC have been killed. APC members in the state are killed on a daily basis”, Amaechi stressed.
He also expressed dismay that the State Commissioner of Police, CP Dan Bature, had refused to make any arrests after the attack on an APC rally in Okrika, even as he accused the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan of ordering a former Niger Delta militant, Ateke Tom to shoot at APC supporters.
He also recalled how the in-laws to the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Chief Nyesom Wike, in company with some thugs, stopped his wife from entering a village.
Amaechi said, “Instead of the Commissioner of Police to investigate; I can tell you my communication with the commissioner of police as of yesterday. I told him you have arrested Charles Anyanwu, the Chairman of Etche Local Government Area, he said yes and that somebody wrote petition against him that he gave him arms.
“I asked him if he was aware that the father-in-law, brother-in-law and the mother-in-law of Nyesom Wike stopped my wife in the bush, not in the village, with thugs and machetes from entering a village, he (CP) said he got the report and that he (CP) has not arrested anybody unless I send in a petition.
“I have told the commissioner of police that the wife of the President called Ateke Tom more than five times to shoot at us at Okrika. He (Ateke Tom) had no choice, but to shoot. Have they arrested Ateke Tom, he (CP) said no, there was no petition against Ateke Tom before him”.
The governor expressed surprise that the president’s wife had taken charge of deploying police commissioners and transferring Divisional Police Officers to the state.
“The DPO in Omoku was transferred out of Rivers State and was brought back to Omoku not up to two months later. They didn’t just bring him back to Rivers State, they posted him to Omoku.
“This is one government I have never seen before where the President or the wife of the President can even transfer or post a DPO. The first attempt at attacking us in Okrika, the commissioner of police did not know that the wife of the President had called for the withdrawal of the policemen attached to us in Okrika.
“And to show you how violent the wife of the President is, last two weeks or three weeks, she said anybody who says change, you stone him. Just two or three days ago, she said shame to any woman supporting APC. She can’t repent”, he said.
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