The Rivers State Government is to set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to probe the spate of violent deaths in the state in the build-up to the March 28 presidential election.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi told All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters at a victory rally in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state that the deaths would be avenged by the law in line with his administration’s resolve to protect lives and property.
Nine people, including a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and three of his sons, have been confirmed killed in the latest political violence in the state
“Anybody found guilty will go to jail. I didn’t set up administrative inquiry. I set up judicial commission of enquiry. It means that the man sitting there is sitting as a judge. He is not sitting as chairman, he is sitting as a judge, if you are found guilty, straight to jail,” he said.
Initial reports said seven people died only for the Police to put the death toll at nine.
Amaechi bemoaned what he called police brutality on innocent voters in the state during the presidential election, but was optimistic that the situation would improve substantially in the April 11 Governorship/House of Assembly polls following victory at the polls of General Muhammadu Buhari in the country’s March 28 Presidential Election.
He said: “This time, election will be peaceful, free and fair. Last time, we saw policemen thumb printing for them. This time they will not. If they do that, take their name, take their number, and record them for us.
The Director General of the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation reviewed his political sojourn and declared that he could not have made a better choice in dumping the PDP for the APC.
He said: “People blamed me for leaving PDP to APC and I said they are wrong. They are wrong because God has directed that we should move to APC and because God said it and I have left them.
“I made it clear that God has said we would win Saturday’s (March 28) election and I said we would be fighting with police and army, but God would be behind us and if God is behind us, we would win, didn’t we win?
“They went to churches to preach. They went to incite our people in churches and said that Gen. Buhari is a Muslim, he will Islamise Nigeria, and I said I did not see that. I said to them I am a Christian, I am a Catholic, nobody can Islamise me. This afternoon, I observed the Catholic ceremonies. On Sunday, I will go to church to pray to my God and thank Him for bringing victory to us.”
He reiterated that president-elect Gen. Buhari would not Islamise Nigeria. “I made it clear that God has said we would win Saturday’s election and I said we would be fighting with police and army but God would be behind us and if God is behind us, we would win, didn’t we win?”
He urged the people to be peaceful in the forthcoming governorship election in the state and vote for the APC governorship candidate.
“We would go out and bring in the votes. My phone will be open on that day, if you are bringing in the votes and any policeman harasses you, don’t fight back. Just give me the person’s name and number.
“I say they have the police, they have the army and I told you they don’t have God. Didn’t I tell you that? Have you seen God’s work now?” he asked.
Yesterday, the police confirmed that an APC leader, Chief Christopher Adube, his four children and driver were killed by gunmen suspected to be political thugs at Obor and Obrikom in Omoku Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government area (ONELGA) of the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad K. Mohammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed this via a text message yesterday.
Killed with Adube in his compound were Joy, Lucky, John, Samuel (his children), his driver named as Iyke Ogarabe and two others.
One other person was also reportedly killed at the APC party secretariat in the area.
Mohammad said the hoodlums struck at about 7:30 pm on Friday, shooting sporadically.
Several other people were wounded.
The police said the hoodlums also stormed the residence of the APC member representing ONELGA constituency in the state House of Assembly, Vincent Ogbuagu.
They killed his gateman and torched the house.
Ogbuagu is seeking re-election into the assembly.
The Police said a manhunt for the killers has begun and appealed for useful information that could lead to their arrests.
Members of the APC in the state and a son of the murdered party chieftain, Chamberlane Adube, condemned the killing and called for the immediate arrest of the killers and their sponsors.
He said his father died because of his support for APC and its governorship candidate Dakuku Peterside.
He said: “My father died for supporting APC. He was our bread winner, there is nothing again left for us to survive on. I call for justice on the killing of my father, brothers, sister, uncle and our driver. Let the police not politicize this killing, it is one too many.”
The ONELGA council chairman, Austin Ahiamadu and the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, also condemned the killings which they described as politically motivated.
Ahiamadu said: “This killing was politically motivated. Why should nine people die at a go without the police making any arrest?
“All the killings in ONELGA have all been against the APC.I use this opportunity to call on the police in the state ahead of the Saturday’s election to sit up and do their job professionally to avoid further violence.”
He announced the imposition of dusk to done curfew in the LGA (ONELGA), (between 6pm and 7am), to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
Semenitari said: “All the people killed in the Friday attack at Omoku are APC members. We have consistently complained that in Omoku we are in a situation where we are at war. People are being killed.
“This is not the first time, this is clearly unacceptable. We have reported to the security agencies.
“It is clear to us that the DPO in Omoku should be picked up.
“We are asking that the perpetrators of this act should be apprehended and brought to book, together with their sponsors.”
Residents quoted Adube’s killers as saying, after the attack, that they had warned him to renounce his membership of the APC to no avail.
Amaechi and the APC governorship candidate in the April 11 elections, Dakuku Peterside had, at different times, raised the alarm about planned attacks on their supporters by the PDP.
Peterside in a petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), last month said no fewer than 30 APC members had been killed in the state.
The police disputed his claim. The Nation
