Senator Wilson Ake, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has fingered one Dr John Imegi, a lecturer at the Rivers State University ,RSU, as the mastermind of the attack on members of the party in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area on Sunday.
Members of APC in ONELGA were reportedly attacked on Sunday at Omoku where they have gathered for a briefing concerning the revalidation/registration exercise of the party.
Ake in a statement he personally signed said those who attacked them at Omoku were known supporters of Imegi who is an ally of the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.
The lawmaker who represented Rivers West Senatorial District in the 7th Senate also condemned the attack in its entirety.
Imegi was yet to react to the allegation at the time of this report.
The statement in full:
I read and watched with utter dismay and absolute disbelief as a bunch of political thugs who are well known followers of one Dr. John C Imegi, a Lecturer at The Rivers State University, who is the leader of a rivalry faction of the two factions of the Party in the LGA loyal to the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and whose penchant for violence is alarmingly evolving into a culture, invaded a meeting of members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) drawn from all the Wards and Units of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State on Saturday, 17th July, 2021 at the Omoku Civic Center Complex wherein the said meeting was completely disrupted and properties and materials belonging to the Civic Center and members of APC were destroyed.
The said meeting was conveyed to orientate and sensitize members of the party in the LGA for the forthcoming next window of the membership Revalidation/Registration Programme of the Party in Rivers State as directed by the National Leadership of the Party and aimed at educating Ward and Unit Coordinators on how best to perform their duties peacefully and to the maximum benefit and in the overall interest of the Party.
That such a peaceful meeting could be so pre-meditatively disrupted and properties and materials worth thousands of naira destroyed by a group of hoodlums without any provocation whatsoever is strongly condemnable as it is an affront on the tenets of democracy and the constitutionally guaranteed rights if lawful association and assembly of law abiding citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is most inhuman, heartless and insensitive for any person or group of persons to contemplate sponsoring and executing plans aimed at causing or promoting crisis in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area considering the fact that the Local Government Area was a major theatre of unprecedented politically motivated killings, arson and maiming before, during and after the 2015 general elections which left in its wake a generation of orphans, widows and widowers and whose social, economic and political effects the people of the LGA are still battling to recover from.
Accordingly, I hereby, most strongly, condemn this ignoble and barbaric act in its entirety as I also call on our ever reliable Security Agencies in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area and Rivers State to do everything within their constitutional powers to fish out the perpetrators of this crime and ensure that the full weight of the laws is brought upon them.
I extend my profound appreciation to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area who were the victims of this vicious attack for exercising maximum restraints and for not taking the laws into their hands in the face of this senseless provocation.
I however warn the sponsors and perpetrators of this act to desist forthwith as any future provocation of this nature will never be tolerated.
8. Finally, I use this opportunity to call on all APC members and intending members in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area in particular and Rivers State in general to avail themselves of this window and come en mass, without any fear of intimidation and victimization, to revalidate their membership AND also register as new members of the Party.
