Rivers APC condemns secretariat attack, claims party under siege

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has condemned the explosion at its secretariat along Aba Road in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Saturday morning, saying that the party is under attack in the state.

Chief Tony Okocha, the former caretaker committee chairman of the state APC, made this statement while addressing reporters in Port Harcourt about the incident.

The explosion, attributed to a suspected dynamite device, occurred during the early hours of the local government election, damaging one of the gates of the secretariat and causing significant destruction to the buildings inside.

Okocha reported that windows, doors, and other property were destroyed, along with damage to a two-storey adjoining building.

“I woke up to see that my mobile was being inundated with several calls early on Saturday,” he explained, recalling how he learned about the explosion after answering the calls.

He questioned the motive behind the attack, given that the election was not being held at the APC secretariat.

“The point to make or to emphasize is the fact that the APC is under attack in Rivers State, and this attack is very unnecessary and uncalled for,” Okocha stated.

He pointed out that a court judgment had declared the election illegal, stressing, “It’s not a court order. It’s not an interim order of the court. It is not ex parte. There’s a court order in a matter that passed through the processes, and the judgment was reached.”

He noted the judgment barred the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) from participating in the election, raising concerns about the security of citizens.

“Imagine where the police are not part of the election. Imagine where the DSS is also not part of our election. So, how do we secure people’s security?” he questioned.

Okocha continued, “This morning, we woke up at 3:30 precisely. My phone kept ringing and ringing. When I picked up, it was my admin notifying me that our office had been attacked with explosives.” He confirmed that police had visited the scene and disclosed that security operatives were actively pursuing members of the party.

“The luck we had was that the one they threw at this particular spot did not detonate. If not, this building would have gone down,” he remarked. Okocha further described the incident as the second attempt at attacking the APC secretariat, stating, “You can see the impact. After they did the first one, they came back the second time to set this building ablaze.”

He stressed the significance of the location, saying, “This is the second time. Every time there is an event in which the governor and his team are involved, APC will be marked out as scapegoats.”

Okocha called for federal government security assistance, stating, “We need security to be able to keep everybody who is a member of APC safe.”

“We respect the rule of law and let the government respect the rule of law,” he asserted, adding that while they could respond with violence, they choose to uphold peace. “We implore the federal government and the international community to see our plight in River State.”

Chibuike Ikenga, the former publicity secretary of the APC Caretaker Committee, also condemned the bombing of the party’s secretariat, urging for a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Our call is that we need peace in the state, but proper investigations should be done so that the culprits of this dastardly act can be brought to book,” he stated.

Ikenga said that achieving peace requires adherence to court orders and respect for the rule of law, asserting, “That’s the only way we can have peace and tranquillity.”

He further noted the correlation between peaceful coexistence and good governance, stressing the importance of a stable environment for development.