Wike Supporters Hold Mbu Must Stay Protest
The Rivers State police command have arrested two council chairmen from the Ogoni axis of the state for their alleged involvement in the mayhem that occurred in Bori, the headquarters of Knana local government area, where over 20 persons were shot and wounded by hoodlums during the aborted protest of the Save Rivers Movement (SRM), an NGO supporting Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
The police arrested and detained the chairmen of Khana and Gokhana councils Hon. Greg Nwidam and Demua L. Demua respectively after the mayhem, and have not released them two days after.
The rally was aborted by gunmen, who shot for more than two hours very close to the venue of the rally – Bori, even though the police were not far from them. Sources have linked the gunmen to some politicians in the camp of the minister of state for education, Nyesom Wike.
The chairmen, who are staunch supporters of Amaechi, were invited by the Bori Police Area Commander on behalf of Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, and taken to the State Command headquarters on Moscow Road.
According to sources, since the duo’s arrest, the police have not allowed their family members’ access to them, just as sources say that the police have concluded plans to charge them to court for allegedly going ahead with the rally even though the police had denied them permission to organize it.
Already, the police have arraigned some youths in a Port Harcourt Magistrates’ Court for allegedly taking part in the protest where Sen. Magnus Ngei Abe was allegedly shot by the police.
The state’s PDP had accused the duo of promoting violence in Ogoniland, noting that the Ogonis had rejected the APC, and Governor Rotimi Amaechi in the area.
According to Jerry Needam, the media aide to the PDP chairman, Felix Obua: “The resistance to the rally by the Ogoni people, prompted the Chairman of Khana Local Government Council, Mr Bariledum Greg Nwiedam, who has lost bearing in the area, to resort to thuggery and violence by hiring thugs who unleashed mayhem on the people from 2am to about 11am (Sunday Jan. 19, 2014).
“The heavily armed thugs came in their numbers and shot sporadically leaving in its trail two Ogoni youths badly shot. One was shot on the leg and another shot in the stomach.
“The Chairman of Khana LGC, Mr Nwiedam had in a radio announcement on Saturday, January 18, 2014, while making public the event (Sunday January 19, 2014) said “kana aa ke, e si wee be” meaning “Khana arise, let’s go and fight”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State Chapter, has described the violence on (Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014) as a manifestation of failure by the police, whom it accuse of not arresting those who partook in past violence in the state, especially the alleged shooting of Senator Magnus Abe.
A statement by Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the media aide to the party’s acting state chairman, R. Ibiamu Ikanya, said that: “Iit “is unfortunate that while Senator Abe is still receiving treatment abroad as a result of that shooting, thugs hired by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) brazenly disrupted Khana’s rally in Ogoniland under the supervision of the police. This explains why none of the hoodlums was arrested by the police, which failed to provide security at the rally as requested by the organisers.
“It is sad and unfortunate that Rivers State Police Command shamelessly denied that the Command was not duly notified of this rally but her duly acknowledged letter of 17th January, 2014 from Save Rivers Movement notifying her about the rally is attached in case anybody is in doubt of the tissue of lies by the Rivers State Police Command.
“Needless to say, this brazen conduct by the police and the untouchable PDP lords in Rivers State makes a mockery of the on-going investigation of the orchestrated violence that disrupted the January 12 rally in Port Harcourt. It also raises questions about the sincerity of the promise by the Police High Command in Abuja to probe the Port Harcourt show of shame. The incident at the Khana rally leaves nobody in doubt anymore that the Rivers State Police Command is now an extension of PDP in Rivers State if the numerous rallies in support of CP Mbu’s impunities in the State are anything to go by.”
In a related development, there was a massive gathering of youths from the Ikwerre axis of the state for Mbu must stay rally. Some youths across the state have vowed to unleash terror in the state if the CP is redeployed. Most of the youths arrived Waterlines, the state’s major transportation hub very early Tuesday, and waited patiently for others to arrive.
The state government had hinted the public a day before the pro Mbu protest that some “hoodlums” had finalized plans to unleash mayhem in the state.
