Following Tuesday’s attack by suspected
Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) hoodlums on
APC supporters on their way to the Buhari
Presidential Campaign flag-off in Port Harcourt,
the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi
Amaechi, has appealed to President Goodluck
Jonathan to restrain members of his party.
Amaechi, who is also the Director-General of the
Buhari Presidential Campaign, spoke on
Wednesday after leading the APC presidential
candidate and others on a sympathy visit to
victims of the attack at the Kelsey Harrison
Hospital in Port Harcourt.
Rivers State Governor Amaechi was today
announced for the position of Director-
General of Buhari's 2015 campaign
Amaechi said the President, apart from prevailing
on his men not to unleash violence on APC
supporters in Rivers State and across the
country, also owed a duty to
condemn Tuesday’s attack on the APC members.
“Imagine that the President goes to campaign in
Katsina or in Kano and his convoy is attacked,
imagine that, we will condemn it,” the governor
said. “In the same manner, we expect the
President and the Peoples’ Democratic Party
should condemn this violence that has been
visited on us by their members and we expect
that they should be able to control their
members.”
He stressed that the President cannot be
promising Nigerians free, fair and violence-free
elections while violence is being perpetrated in
front of him. “If he says violence-free election,
and here we have already experienced violence,
what is he expecting us to do?"
He further called on President Jonathan, as
Commander-In-Chief, to provide security for all
Nigerians irrespective of their party of affiliation.
“I have continued to say that if the state is not
able to provide security for individuals,
individuals begin to provide security for
themselves and I pray that people don’t begin to
provide security for themselves. I pray that all of
us should come out and support the state to
provide security and the state must be ready to
provide that security”.
According to him, the PDP, by the attacks on
APC supporters, has shown that it is not ready
to ensure peaceful or violence-free polls.
“The fact that people are being attacked here
and there is an indication that the PDP is not
ready for free, fair and violence-free elections,"
he declared.
The governor disclosed that the state would
provide free medical service for the victims of
the attack and extend financial support to their
families during the time they would be in
hospital for medical care.
In his remarks, the Rivers State APC
gubernatorial candidate, Dakuku Peterside, also
expressed displeasure at the attack by PDP
supporters, which he described as “an
unfortunate trend.”
He said the only way for Nigerians to trust
President Jonathan over his avowed desire for
peaceful elections in the country is for him to
publicly condemn the attacks and ensure they
don’t re-occur.
“I don’t want to believe that violence will
characterize the 2015 elections because that is
not what any one of us desires,” he said. “The
President has said severally, whether he means it
or not is a different matter, that his ambition is
not worth the blood of anybody and we agree
with him to that extent but again, it is one thing
to share your philosophy, it is another thing to
see your people go clearly against what you
believe in and you are doing nothing about it. I
am optimistic that the President and his team
and members of his party, the PDP, will come
out strongly and condemn this act of violence
visited on members of the APC in Rivers State”.
He reiterated the belief of the APC in peaceful
polls and using peaceful means to realize
political gains.
It was gathered that the APC supporters were
attacked yesterday at Elele, as well as between
Emohua and Sama Abalama in Kalabari
Kingdom, and between Kpoki and Kira in Ogoni
land.
With General Buhari during the visit were the
National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-
Oyegun, Senator Chris Ngige, and many of the
APC party faithful.
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