The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has condemned the explosion at its secretariat along Aba Road in Port Harcourt on Saturday morning, saying the party is under attack in the state.
The former caretaker committee chairman of the state APC, Chief Tony Okocha, stated this while fielding questions from newsmen in Port Harcourt about the explosion.
Recall that an explosion from a device suspected to be dynamite rocked the APC secretariat in the early hours of the local government election, with one of the gates of the secretariat pulled down, while buildings inside the office were damaged,
Aside from the doors, windows and other property destroyed, the windows of a two-storey adjoining building were also shattered due to the explosion.
Okocha noted that he woke up to see that his mobile was being inundated with several calls early on Saturday, saying he was informed of the incident when he eventually answered.
He, therefore, wondered about the attackers’ motive when the election was not taking place at the APC secretariat.
According to him, “The point to make or to emphasize is the fact that the APC is under attack in River State, and this attack is very unnecessary and uncalled for.
“Luckily, some of you were here with us yesterday (Friday) when we briefed the press to remind Nigerians that there is a court judgment. It’s not a court order. It’s not an interim order of the court. It is not an ex parte.
“There’s a court order in a matter that passed through the processes, and the judgment was reached. And in that judgment, the court was clear that the election slated for today did not comply with the constitution and the laws of the state.”
“And that, to that extent, it was declared illegal. You can see, too, that the same judgment barred the police and DSS from participating. Imagine where the police are not part of the election. Imagine where the DSS is also not part of our election. So, how do we secure people’s security, and how are we sure of their security?
“So, this morning, we woke up at 3:30 precisely. My phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing. When I picked up, it was my admin notifying me that our office had been attacked with explosives.”
Okocha stated that the police had visited the scene of the incident and also disclosed that security operatives were hunting members of the party.
He said, “The luck we had was that the one they threw at this particular spot did not detonate. If not, this building would have gone down.
“You can see the impact. This one was the second attempt. After they did the first one, they came back the second time to set this building ablaze.
“Look at this one too, and they also came here, the main office proper, to see how they can set the place on fire. We just thank goodness. This structure is not our own. It’s a rented apartment. And what do you think some people will be feeling right now?
He continued, “So we want to tell Nigerians that we are under attack. Our citizens, our leaders, are chased by their soldiers differently. When I say soldiers, I’m talking about uniformed soldiers.
“That’s what I’m talking about. They are chasing us everywhere. And we are not budging. So what they felt they would do is to come and destroy our party secretariat.
“There is no voting unit here. No voting unit. It’s purely the APC secretariat. So what was the attack? Why did they attack here? This is the second time. Every time there is an event in which the governor and his team are involved, APC will be marked out as scapegoats.
“So please help us to let Nigerians know that APC, her citizens, and her members are on serious attack and that we need security from the federal government because they will not offer us here, and certainly not. So we need security to be able to keep everybody who is a member of APC safe.”
“The reason we have said so is not that we cannot unleash mayhem or violence, but we are cultured, we are well cultivated, we respect the rule of law, and let the government respect the rule of law.
“Should we say okay, we want to go and retaliate, something else will happen. But we won’t take the laws into our hands. We implore the federal government and international community to see our plight in River State.
Also speaking, the former publicity secretary of the APC CTC, Chibuike Ikenga, condemned the bombing of the party’s secretariat and called for a proper investigation with a view to brining the culprits to book.
Ikenga stated, “Our call is that we need peace in the state, but proper investigations should be done so that the culprits of this dastardly act can be brought to book.
“But we need peace in Rivers State; like I always said, how do we achieve peace? We must achieve peace by obeying court orders, obeying, going through due processes, and respecting the rule of law.
“That’s the only way we can have peace and tranquillity. And then, of course, you know that there’s a relationship, correlation or nexus between peaceful coexistence and development, particularly as it affects good governance.”
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