Rivers state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has reacted to comments by the state governor Chief Nyesom Wike that the state is safe.
Wike had during the commissioning of the Police Intelligence and Surveillance Unit in Port Harcourt said the state is the safest in the country.
But the APC in a statement by its spokesperson, Darlington Nwauju said the comment is very far from the truth.
“Our attention has been drawn to comments credited to the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, during the visit of the Inspector General of Police, to the effect that Rivers State is the safest state in the country, a claim which is very far from the truth. This statement shows how far the governor is from reality in the state.
The governor was making this claim a day after the state capital recorded the brutal and daylight shooting to death of three police escorts before the brazen abduction of the CEO of an oil/gas company on top of the Rumuokoro flyover; a day after the abduction of two school children in Elelenwo, and a day after a man was kidnapped at Artillery area of the state capital. That the Garden City is under siege is an understatement. Not long ago, people going from Port Harcourt to Degema were daily kidnapped at Emohua. Most communities in the state are under daily attacks and molestation by hoodlums.
On the side of democracy, freedom and liberty, Rivers State is simply under clampdown. A state where artificial road blocks alien to both the Constitution and the Electoral Act have been willfully constructed against political opponents, cannot be said to be safe. A state where political actors on the other divide cannot acquire party offices, post posters and billboards and freely talk to Rivers people without being chased by hoodlums and political thugs sponsored by the ruling party in the state (PDP) cannot be described as safe.
Rivers State is under the worst form of siege; democracy is under threat! Records available to us do not also show proactive response from security agencies to cases of politically orchestrated attacks in different parts of the state.
“We invite the international community to take notice of the excessive abuse of power taking place under the Wike administration and rise to the occasion to protect democracy in every part of Nigeria by placing agents of the Wike administration on the security watch list.
Nobody in opposition to the anti-democratic and despotic rule festering in the Oil Capital of Nigeria can boldly claim to be safe or feel a sense of safety.
A sub-national entity running outside of the Constitution of the republic is a threat to the nation. It is important for all those who have a duty to liberty to act now, and not buy the cover-up that Rivers is the safest state”.
