Florence Uwaeme
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has cancelled its presidential campaign rally in Rivers State.
The Rivers chapter of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council said on Monday that its candidate Atiku Abubakar would no longer hold the scheduled rally in Rivers.
Senator Lee Maeba, the chairman of Rivers PDP PCC at a press conference blamed the development on the crisis between the council and Rivers chapter of the PDP led by Governor Nyesom Wike.
According to him, the atmosphere created by the Governor Wike’s foot soldiers led to the cancellation.
He said the governor’s loyalists had been made to view Atiku as the enemy of the state. He added that series of attacks against Atiku’s campaigners in the state and events leading to the proposed campaign had indications it could end up in bloodshed.
Maeba, a former Senator representing Rivers South East, berated security agencies in the state for not being able to restore confidence in the populace and Atiku campaigners.
He, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in Rivers and compel security agencies to discharge their responsibilities without partiality.
He said: “Governor Wike has branded the supporters of Atiku as enemies of the state and vowed to crush them.
“He approved the use of Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for the presidential rally but upon the campaign council visit to the stadium to ascertain the status of the facility, he berated their visit and put a rule that they could only visit the stadium 48 hours to the fixed date of the rally.
“Regrettably and predictably, the Governor canceled the approval. This unstable and unreliable stance of the governor led the campaign council to source an alternative venue and got a private parcel of land at Rainbow Town. The governor has made it impossible to secure a peaceful use of that facility.
“This is also supported by the injunction obtained ex parte from the magistrate court by his attorney-general to seal all campaign offices of Alh. Atiku Abubakar in Rivers State. It is part of the wider plot to maliciously put away members of the campaign council until the presidential election is over.
“In the light of the above submissions, we the state campaign council in total constructive engagement with the national campaign council, the candidate and the party, having seen and evaluated the bodily harm, believe that no loss of life can be tolerated, accepted before during and after the presidential election and agreed with our principals on the need to shelve and cancel the rally to avoid any death because the victory of Alh Abubakar doesn’t deserve spilling of blood of even one citizen of Rivers State.
“This may be painful but it is the best decision to take as no human death can be excused on the insistence of holding a rally due to the brigandage which the security agency has not been able to wade in and restore confidence security wise on the populace and our members”.
