The Peoples Democratic Party, Rivers State chapter has faulted claims by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dakuku Peterside, that its members in the state have been subjected to continued attacks and are being killed by its political opponents, the PDP.
The PDP said it notes with surprise that the APC leaders and Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who have allegedly overtly carried out regular release of hardened criminals from prisons and detention in the state and have been ostensibly engaged as snipers and political machineries, trailing the APC political opponents, will turn around to blackmail law-abiding members of the PDP, linking them to alleged death cases in the state.
The PDP said it views such allegations by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, and Peterside, of the killing of APC members in Rivers State as flawed, unfounded and outright blackmail.
It stated that it should not surprise the public of the complicity of APC leaders in any death of its members, as it has failed to resolve many of its internal crises sparked by absence of internal democracy, greed and selfish disposition of the leaders as well as the fallout of the imposition of Peterside against Senator Magnus Abe as the party’s gubernatorial candidate.
While challenging the APC to produce un-fabricated evidences of their claims, the PDP emphasised that if at all there has been any death incident in the APC, such situation would have also been caused by clash of APC factional cult groups, sponsored by chieftains of the party struggling for supremacy and control of huge funds doled out for the running of the party by Governor Amaechi.
The statement said: “We have continued to draw attention of the public and security agencies to the release by Gov. Amaechi of hardened criminals awaiting trial, and armed cult boys apparently to cause unrest in parts of the State in order to disrupt the elections, apprehensive of the fact that they will lose elections in the state.
“We are aware of the antics of the APC and will never play into their hands. Their intention is to do something to obstruct the elections and blame it on either the inefficiency or compromise of the INEC and the PDP, but we urge all Nigerians, particularly the security agencies to be alert to resist and quell all such moves by the APC.”
The PDP also appealed to all well-meaning electorate to ignore the APC’s claims and go about carrying out their franchise and vote for Chief Nyesom Wike as governor and other PDP state Assembly candidates in the April 11 elections, stressing that PDP, as a responsible and law abiding party, will not engage in anything capable of truncating the nation’s democracy and the electoral process.
The party reiterated its call on its teeming members and supporters to be steadfast and mobilize the masses for the victory of the party in the state, charging them not to be intimidated by the oppressive actions of the Rivers State Government under Governor Amaechi.
Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party says it is aware of the arrival of cache of arms and ammunition into Rivers State, allegedly imported by leaders of the All Progressives Congress in the state.
The party said most of these guns have been distributed to the various wards and units across the state to political thugs and machineries of the APC to be used in the April 11 elections.
It said confirmed reports indicate that some APC loyalists in parts of the state, particularly in Ogoni, Kalabari and Ikwerre Communities have on receipt of the guns started boasting of delivering the APC in the coming elections.
The PDP, therefore, called on security agencies to swing into action to avert calamity during the elections.