CREDIT: SAHARA REPORTERS
The Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, has rejected the outcome of investigations by the state Police Command that gun attacks against APC members last Tuesday was the handiwork of armed robbers and not thugs suspected to be loyal to a rival political party.
The Rivers APC, which rejected the report in a statement issued by the Greater Together Campaign Organisation, the campaign team for the party’s governorship candidate in the state, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, said it is nothing than a hasty and unprofessional job done by a security agency associated with partisanship and allegiance to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
It would be recalled that the APC supporters were shot at by unknown gunmen while they were traveling to attend the formal kick-off of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Campaign at the Adokiye Amasieka Stadium in Port Harcourt. While none of the supporters died in the attack, others sustained gunshot injuries and are currently undergoing medical treatment.
The statement, which was signed by Ms. Ibim Semenitari, Director of Communications, the campaign organisation dismissed the police story questioning its validity. “We are shocked at the speed with which the police in Rivers State concluded their so-called investigations which to us would be record-breaking considering their appaling records in investigation”.
The statement, which further faulted the police report, argued that it was reprehensible for the police to link what it said were deliberate, orchestrated and well-coordinated attacks carried out at 3 different locations in different local government areas simultaneously, to armed robbery.
“The police should train their men in investigation and their Public Relations Officers in the act of delivery. If at no other time, the police in Rivers and their Spokesman got it wrong this time. The armed attacks were deliberate, orchestrated and well-coordinated against APC members in Asari Toru and Khana councils, respectively. We are shocked that the police in Rivers State, in a glaring, partisan manner would misinform and mislead Rivers people who know the truth and the reason behind the armed attacks against APC members. We are bothered that the police in Rivers which ought to be apolitical and non-partisan, have again shown where their loyalty lies. That is bad enough much as it is condemnable”.
The statement continued, “We stand by our earlier position that the gunmen who attacked those innocent APC supporters who were on their way to exercise their freedom of association were working for APC’s opponents in the February general election and not armed robbers. We advise the police not to further ridicule their already battered image by turning the second spokesman for the PDP”.