We ‘ve lost 55 persons to political terror in Rivers—APC

Alh. Lai Mohammed

All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday, said killings targeted at its members and supporters in Rivers State had so far claimed 55 lives. It also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security agencies of conniving with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state to rig elections.

Consequently, the party called on the international observers and the civil society organisations to beam their searchlight on the state in Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly polls.

National Publicity Secretary of  APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said at a press conference in Abuja that it had written a petition to the appropriate quarters calling for thorough checks of the PDP’s schemes against APC members in the state.

He said: “We have lost 55 persons so far in the run-off to this election. You all saw what happened in Rivers state during the last election.

‘’If you did not see anything, at least, you saw when the Returning Officer was asked to read the results, he could not because it was not written by him.

“Our party is a party that believes in the rule of law. They have the police, the DSS and INEC. They have these three groups which they are using to subvert democracy in Rivers state. Everyday, they are killing our people and nobody is being held responsible.

“Last week, nine members of our party were killed in cold blood, while many others were injured, when armed PDP thugs invaded Obrikom and Obor communities in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government of Rivers State.

“These same thugs set ablaze the residence of Vincent Ogbagu, our candidate for the House of Assembly election.

“Dozens of our members have been arrested on frivolous charges, just to put them away.  At least, four persons were arrested just because they defected to our party.

"APC members have been subjected to persistent harassment and intimidation across the state, using the Police in Rivers and the Zone 6 in Calabar. Over 150 prominent members have been victims of this unprovoked persecution.

“Just today (yesterday), we received another sad news from Rivers.  An APC chieftain, Christopher Adube, was reportedly shot dead, weekend. Adube, who hails from the Egbema Local Government Area, was said to have been shot dead in his residence