There was pandemonium at the National
Campaign Office of the Peoples Democratic Party,
Maitama, Abuja on Thursday as politicians
suspected to be loyalists of the Minister of State
for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, beat his
suspected opponents.
Wike is among those aspiring to be the
governorship candidate of the party in Rivers
State in 2015.
The thugs, who were in their tens, used
dangerous weapons, such as stick, bottles and
stones to scare away members of the party from
the state from gaining entrance into the building,
where members of the National Integration
Committee, South-South zone, were meeting.
The meeting was aimed at settling grievances
among members of the ruling party in the zone
and Thursday was allotted to hear the grievances
of those aggrieved in Rivers State.
But only Wike and his supporters were allowed to
enter the venue of the meeting.
Many opponents of the minister, who came to
present petitions to the Senator Iya Abubakar-led
committee were beaten up by the thugs.
Those beaten included a legal practitioner, Mr.
Tabotamuno Dick; a former Commissioner for
Water Resources under former Governor Peter
Odili, Mr. Lolo Ibieneye; Prof. Israel Owate, Dr.
Sowaribi Tolofari, Mr. Sara Egbe and Chief
Bekinbo Sobrekon.
Some journalists were also harassed while others
had either their cameras damaged or their tape
recorders seized.
Dick, who is a legal adviser to the Network for
Defence of Democracy and Good Governance,
suffered an injury near his left eye as a result of
the beating.
While the thugs were beating him, policemen
attached to the venue of the meeting refused to
intervene, as one of them said they were
handicapped because of the personalities
involved.
However, the policemen joined the thugs to chase
away rival politicians who were said not to be
members of Wike’s Grassroots Democratic
Initiatives.
Dick, who spoke with our correspondent after the
incident, said, “I came to defend the petition we
sent to the committee, but see what happened
here today.
“I have been beaten by thugs and these thugs
were joined by the policemen attached to
someone who wants to be a governor of my
state. We shall wait to see.”
Ibineneye also said that he was shoved and
beaten, but warned that the PDP in the state
would soon explode, adding that what happened
in Abuja would have been a child’s play if the
meeting had held in the state.
He said that out of 22 people who brought
petitions to the committee, only four people were
allowed inside.
Another aggrieved member, who was also
harassed and sent out through the gate of the
building, Sarigbe insisted that there was no way
another Ikwerre person would succeed the current
governor of the state, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
Sarigbe, who is from Aku Local Government Area
of the state, said, “They are violating the party’s
constitution in the state because the party
recognises zoning of offices in the state and
everywhere.
“I’m a foundation member of the party in the
state. These people went through the back door
and brought a two-man executive. Since these
two men came, they have been violating the
party’s constitution. The party should listen to us
or the party would fail in the state.”
Wike, after the meeting, insisted that there was
peace in the state PDP.
“There is peace in the party in the state,” he said
in a brief interview after the meeting.
Some of the protesters later went to the national
headquarters of the party, where they were
addressed by the party’s National Publicity
Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh.
While addressing them, Metuh assured them that
the party leadership would not allow the
imposition of candidates on members in any state
of the federation.
The PDP spokesman maintained that the party
members would be given the opportunity to elect
and nominate aspirants of their choice who would
eventually become the party’s candidate for
elections in 2015.
Source: http://www.punchng.com/news/rivers-
pdp-rivals-exchange-blows-in-abuja/
