Edith CHUKU
A stakeholder of the African Democratic Congress ADC, in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, has criticised the destruction of the party’s office in Ubima and attempted attack on the convoy of the former governor of the state, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.
Mr Olaka O. Olaka who is the ADC publicity secretary and the party’s youth wing coordinator, said sponsors of the act which he described as barbaric, cowardice and primitive, ought to bury their heads in shame.
Reacting to the incident in an interview with TNN on Friday, Olaka insisted that the perpetrators were acting out of fear of the ADC, which he claimed prompted them to vandalize the party’s office and attempt an attack on Amaechi’s convoy.
His words, “I do not have fears, those that are attacking the secretariat and attempting to attack our convoy are those that have fears, they have better explanation to give to Nigerians.
“You have 31 governors to yourself, you have all the senators and you have all the house of reps, you have everything you need to have, and you are threatened by a political party that you said is not existing.
“That’s just an act of cowardice, that shows that they are frustrated, already frustrated ahead of what is going to befall them in 2027.”
The ADC LGA publicity secretary revealed that “if I were a member of the ruling party as it were, I will bury my head in shame because I think that politics and democracy have passed this level long before now, there is no place where things are done very barbaric, primitive method.
“Why burn a party’s secretariat. You have your party secretariat scattered all over, you have your offices and no one has attacked your party secretariat. You have been going about your activities, no one has ever confronted you or come to destroy what you are doing so why not do yours and allow others exercise their right or do their own.”
“Every Nigerian has right to belong to any political party you want to so belong, now, if Rotimi Amaechi and other notable Nigerians, including myself decide we are going to join the coalition move and work with the ADC, I do not see how that become a problem to anyone, to say the least, it’s barbaric, it’s condemnable, it’s a show of cowardice, as simple as that, they are frustrated and should bury their head in shame.
“I need them to know, the security agencies should be aware, the international communities should also know that no one has the monopoly of violence, nobody.”
Meanwhile, the former transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi, charged security agencies to arrest those behind the attack on his convoy and destruction of his party’s secretariat.
It was gathered that on Friday, while Amaechi was going to his community for his e-registration as a member of the ADC, gunmen attacked his convoy on the road between Ubima and Omuanwa in Ikwerre LGA, not long after the ward office of the ADC in his home town was set ablaze.
On his arrival, suspected thugs had already mounted a roadblock, turning back buses identified as conveying ADC members attending the visit.
The miscreants who shot sporadically into the community and riddled the gate of Amaechi’s family house with bullets, fled into the bushes when the security operatives displayed superior firepower.
