Tension heightened in Okrika, Rivers State yesterday as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Chief Dakuku Peterside was allegedly told not to hold a rally today. The exercise had been postponed thrice due to security concern.
This is even as the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan arrived in Okrika, her hometown yesterday. There was a security meeting between APC leaders and the police yesterday.
Briefing journalists yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Campaign Manager of Dakuku Peterside Campaign Organisation in Okrika, Tamuno Williams, stated that the inability of the police to provide security for their members in Okrika had led to the postponement of the rally thrice. Williams said: “We could not hold the first rally on Saturday, January 24, because unknown hoodlums blew up our podium and sound systems with dynamite. Cars were burnt and our canopies and chairs destroyed. The police then asked us to reschedule the rally for Tuesday, February 3. Again, it was postponed on the instructions of the police.”
According to him, the leadership of the party was surprised when the representatives of the commissioner of police said the rally had to be postponed indefinitely.
“We were shocked. It is clear to us that the APC cannot hold a rally in Okrika when the President’s wife is in town. We are also indigenes of Okrika”.
He accused the police of being partisan, stressing that the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Nyesom Wike, was addressing a rally at Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, with heavy presence of armed security, while they were holding the meeting with the security chiefs at the state police command.
“If members and supporters of the APC cannot hold rallies in Okrika, how are we sure they will be allowed to freely cast their votes on the day of the election? If the police cannot allow the APC to hold its rally at Okrika for security reasons, how are we sure the police can protect those who will vote for the APC at the polls?”, he asked.
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This is even as the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan arrived in Okrika, her hometown yesterday. There was a security meeting between APC leaders and the police yesterday.
Briefing journalists yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Campaign Manager of Dakuku Peterside Campaign Organisation in Okrika, Tamuno Williams, stated that the inability of the police to provide security for their members in Okrika had led to the postponement of the rally thrice. Williams said: “We could not hold the first rally on Saturday, January 24, because unknown hoodlums blew up our podium and sound systems with dynamite. Cars were burnt and our canopies and chairs destroyed. The police then asked us to reschedule the rally for Tuesday, February 3. Again, it was postponed on the instructions of the police.”
According to him, the leadership of the party was surprised when the representatives of the commissioner of police said the rally had to be postponed indefinitely.
“We were shocked. It is clear to us that the APC cannot hold a rally in Okrika when the President’s wife is in town. We are also indigenes of Okrika”.
He accused the police of being partisan, stressing that the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Nyesom Wike, was addressing a rally at Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, with heavy presence of armed security, while they were holding the meeting with the security chiefs at the state police command.
“If members and supporters of the APC cannot hold rallies in Okrika, how are we sure they will be allowed to freely cast their votes on the day of the election? If the police cannot allow the APC to hold its rally at Okrika for security reasons, how are we sure the police can protect those who will vote for the APC at the polls?”, he asked.
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