Political analyst and Chancellor of International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights,  Dr. Omenazu Jackson, has lamented increasing political violence in Rivers State, calling on leaders in the state to speak up.

He made the call as suspected political thugs vandalised the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Secretariat in Nonwa Tai in Tai Council of the state.

The Secretariat was due for commissioning on Monday by the party’s governorship candidate, Magnus Abe. The Guardian gathered that the vandals  attacked and destroyed the complex at dawn  after the  party faithful had finished setting the arena  for the event.

Recall that similar attacks occurred in November this year, when thugs disrupted SDP rally in Oyigbo Council.

Reacting to the  development,  spokesperson for Abe, Parry Saroh Benson,  said attacks and threats to life and property would not deter Abe from campaigning in Tai and other councils in the state.

A statement issued by Benson called on the state Commissioner of Police and other security agencies to investigate the incident and bring an end to escalating violence in the state.

Meanwhile, Jackson has urged elders of the state to condemn the  troubling situation and  take bold steps to stop it to avoid a repeat of 2015 and 2019 election  violence  in the state.

He said: “I feel that elders of Rivers State should  speak up , the churches should speak up. Political violence in Rivers State is becoming hydra-headed, the perpetrators should desist  from it, the  current state government should exonerate itself  from accusations of murder, attacks and political violence.

“As a civil  society leader, from 2015 till date, we have recorded over 120 politically-motivated murder. There have been 42 arsonist attacks, properties lost, there  has been 71 cases of attempted politically-motivated murder where some have not recovered till today.

“The agonising aspect of it is that  no one has been prosecuted, no one has been jailed  and some of the  people  causing these political deaths are going in convoys with  police protection, some have been rewarded with  appointments.” He called on security agencies to up their game, recalling that some of them have been victims. 

“In 2015, police men were killed and recently police escorts were killed in the  state, yet no one has been jailed.

“Until people  begin to pay  for committing crime against humanity,  this nonsense will  not stop, no body should  be a sacred cow, no body should be above the law,” he stated.