The Rivers State (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP) Government says the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in a plot to rig the state’s rerun elections through military invasion, in a statement released in Port Harcourt by the commissioner for Information and Communication, Austin Tam-George (PhD).
The latest response comes amid brutal killings, sometimes politically motivated, in the state. The killings have left the state on the edge, with businesses jittery over fear of widespread disruption.
Tam-George said the APC’s reckless and false allegations were part of a plan to incite the military and other security forces against the people of Rivers State.
“It is a crude plan to militarize the state and use the security forces to steal the results of the forthcoming re-run election,” the commissioner said.
He said that investigations by Rivers State Police command have since revealed that recent deaths resulted from retributive attacks launched by rival cult gangs fighting for supremacy. The Police have since arrested some key culprits who have made useful statements, the commissioner added.
“The attempt by the APC to appropriate every dead person in River State as their member might mean that the APC is in fact the sponsor of these satanic cult clashes, all in an attempt to destabilize the Wike administration,” the commissioner, speaking for the State government, said.
At least 12 local government areas of the 23 are enmeshed in violent killings and maiming, burning of houses and properties.
Only days ago, Franklin Obi, the APC Ward 4 chairman in Omoku, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni LGA was killed and beheaded, while his wife, Iheoma and son, 18-year-old Bestman Obi were shot and killed in cold blood.
