By: Felix Ikpotor
Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe has recounted how suspected thugs allegedly sponsored by the chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Desmond Akawor attacked him and his supporters at Oyigbo local government area of the state.
Speaking at a world press conference in Port Harcourt, Abe said the thugs were led by a personal assistant to the PDP chairman.
The guber candidate said there have been several attacks on his supporters but he decided not to come public in order not to portray the state in a bad light.
He however, said he has decided to tell the world what is going in Rivers State because of the growing repressive measures by the government against democratic practices in the state.
“For sometimes now, there have been series of repressive measures against functional democratic practices in the state, but out of the sense of responsibility, a sense of loyalty to Rivers State and a sense of majority, we have refused overtime to share our concerns on some of these issues with the public. But however, as time has gone on, events have continued to escalate.
“First there was an incident in Khana local government when we went there to try to talk to some youth leaders in the area and every effort was made to try to sabotage that gathering including trying to hire boys and all that to try to disrupt that gathering. We ignored it, we didn’t say anything about it. Sometimes after that, there was a church service in Gokana local government area at the Baptist church where I was invited and as soon as they heard I was coming, thugs invaded the church and tried to disrupt the occasion which was just an occasion to pray for candidates from Ogoni extraction, but because I was coming, thugs hired by the Gokana local government chairman went into the church to disrupt the service in the name of taskforce.
“Several members and people who joined the SDP have been harassed in different ways, but we held our peace believing that we should not allow Rivers State to constantly be in the news for the wrong reasons. The young man from the PDP in Ahoada West local government who was a councillor and decamped to the SDP has been severally harassed and his life threatened. So many incidences of violence, infact, the other time I was to have been given a chieftaincy title by the Eze Upata of Upata Kingdom, it would have been a bloodbath so I had to quietly call off my attendance because of all the threats and all that. In all these, we have never taken our case to the public because we didn’t want Rivers State once more to make the headlines for the wrong reasons, but over the past few weeks, this series of events have continued to escalate.
“The other day, one of our supporters in Tai was attacked and his hand cut. Several times when people have tried to hold SDP meetings, it has been disrupted by thugs and I held my peace, that nobody should say anything that we will continue to treat these issues privately.
“Today however, the matter has gotten to a point that we can no longer keep quiet. The country must become aware of what is going on in Rivers State. The SDP in Oyigbo local government were to hold a stakeholders meeting this morning, the meeting has been on air, it’s just a normal meeting, not a rally and I indicated my interest to attend the meeting just to encourage our supporters in Oyigbo and then make a condolence visit to one of the kings and then see the chiefs of Oyigbo as well as visit one or two prominent members of the SDP in Oyigbo. The meeting was to hold in a hall in Ayama. This hall was built by me, furnished by me and donated by me to the community as one of my constituency projects while I was in the Senate, early this morning, thugs led by the personal assistant to the Rivers State PDP chairman Ambassador Desmond Akawor broke into the place, scattered everything and locked up the place and say we should not hold the meeting there even though prior approval has been given by the chiefs and elders of the community. When that information got to me, I duly informed the police and I asked them to withdraw because our principle has been non -confrontation, no violence and the meeting was moved to a private compound of one of our supporters and I left here to attend the meeting having moved it from the hall which was my own constituency project. When we got to Egberu, the border into Oyigbo, the road was blocked by thugs, armed with all kinds of dangerous weapons that this is the home of Desmond Akawor and we could not enter Oyigbo, that there can be no SDP in Oyigbo local government,” he said.
He appealed to the state governor to call leaders of PDP and Desmond Akawor to order to allow for peaceful campaigns in the state and not return it to the 2015 experience.
Abe insisted that he will campaign everywhere in Rivers State and nobody can stop him.
“I will go back to Egberu, I will campaign in Egberu and I will campaign everywhere in Rivers State constitutionally mandated by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but it’s time Nigerians know what’s going on here in Rivers State and the attempts that are being made to forcefully and violently stop other political parties from exercising their democratic rights in this state. It would not be allowed, we will not agree to it and we will not accept it, ” he said.
“I want to say that Nigerians should take note of what is happening in Rivers State. We all know what happened here before and how many people lost their lives needlessly because of the lust for power on the part of those who would not respect the rules of the game.
Once more we are threading thesame dangerous part.
I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the governor and appeal to all leaders of the PDP particularly Desmond Akawor himself that this kind of behavior is not tolerable and if all of us behave like this the state would be ungovernable because everybody has a village and roads passed through our villages, we also have supporters and boys at home so I want to appeal to everybody, let us change the way we do things, let us do things differently, let us allow democracy to take root in our time. After twenty something years of practicing democracy, we have reached a point where we should know what the rules of democracy are and try as much as possible to abide by it.
To Rivers people, I want to assure you that freedom is coming, we will be free, there will be no kind of intimidation that can take away our constitutional rights in this state. We will be free. We will contest the election and by the grace of God, we will win the elections,” he stated.
Port Harcourt Spectator reports that on Monday, a video went viral on the internet showing a former chairman of Oyigbo local government area, Dr. Chisom Gbali in company with some persons destroying the already arranged hall in Ayama.
Meanwhile, the state PDP chairman has denied the allegation.
