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The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has postponed its presidential campaign rally in Rivers State following attacks on its members.
The development was confirmed on Monday by the Rivers chapter of the PDP presidential campaign council.
They stated that the PDP flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar, would no longer hold the scheduled campaign rally in Rivers State, which has the highest voter population in the South-South subregion.
Senator Lee Maeba, chairman of Rivers PDPPCC, blamed the development on the crisis between the presidential campaign council and the Rivers chapter of PDP led by Governor Nyesom Wike.
He stated that Mr Wike frustrated their efforts to find a suitable venue for the rally, and following recent happenings in the state, it was likely that a rally would lead to bloodshed.
Mr Maeba blamed security agents for failing to protect supporters of Mr Abubakar in Rivers and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and compel security agents to discharge their duties without bias.
“Governor Wike has branded the supporters of Atiku as enemies of the state and vowed to crush them,” Mr Maeba said.
He added; “He approved the use of Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for the presidential rally, but upon the campaign council visit to the stadium to ascertain the status of the facility, he berated their visit and put a rule that they could only visit the stadium 48 hours to the fixed date of the rally.
“Regrettably and predictably, the Governor canceled the approval. This unstable and unreliable stance of the governor led the campaign council to source an alternative venue and got a private parcel of land at Rainbow Town. The governor has made it impossible to secure a peaceful use of that facility.
“This is also supported by the injunction obtained ex parte from the magistrate court by his attorney-general to seal all campaign offices of Alh. Atiku Abubakar in Rivers State. It is part of the wider plot to maliciously put away members of the campaign council until the presidential election is over.
“In the light of the above submissions, we the state campaign council in total constructive engagement with the national campaign council, the candidate, and the party, having seen and evaluated the bodily harm, believe that no loss of life can be tolerated, accepted before during and after the presidential election and agreed with our principals on the need to shelve and cancel the rally to avoid any death because the victory of Alh Abubakar doesn’t deserve spilling of blood of even one citizen of Rivers State.
“This may be painful, but it is the best decision to take as no human death can be excused on the insistence of holding a rally due to the brigandage which the security agency has not been able to wade in and restore confidence security-wise on the populace and our members”.
Meanwhile, Governor Wike has denied not approving the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, stating that the Rivers PDPPCC canceled their rally because they lacked the numbers to fill the stadium.
The Nation reports that Mr Wike made the comments at Nyemoni Secondary School field in Abonnema town, venue of the PDP campaign for Akuku-Toru Local Government Area on Monday.
“I gave them the stadium, they know they have no capacity to fill the stadium, they are looking for excuses. They went and forced themselves to use government land at Trans Amadi. I said no, that was not where I gave you. Where I gave you was Adokiye Amiesimaka, go and fill that place.
“They now said no, we won’t go there again. We don’t want people to die. Who is killing who? Is anybody killing anybody? I said don’t pay money, I will buy the diesel for you. I will do everything for you. Mobilise, go, and fill that stadium. They ran away.”
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