Sen. Magnus Abe, a Social Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governor in the state of Rivers, claimed yesterday that Amb. Desmond Akawor, chairman of the Rivers PDP, had sent armed thugs to bar his campaign team from entering Obigbo for a meeting.
The SDP candidate, who Akawor recognized as a friend, made the allegation. In response, Akawor said the claim was false because he could not have imagined doing such a thing. He also emphasized that at the time the incident occurred, he was with Governor Nyesom Wike in Port Harcourt commissioning projects.
Abe claimed that while traveling in a convoy to a meeting in the Egberu, Obigbo Local Government Area (LGA), the base of the PDP state leaders, thugs blocked the road and forced them to flee in the presence of police escorts. Earlier, they had prevented them from convening in a community hall that Abe had constructed while serving in the Senate.
In response to a string of recent repressive attacks on political parties in Rivers, the governorship candidate claimed that he and his party had endured unpleasant experiences, including injuries to supporters. However, out of a sense of responsibility, loyalty to Rivers state, and maturity, he and his party chose not to voice their concerns in public.
But over the past few weeks, these episodes have continued to intensify, Abe added. One of our supporters in Tai was recently assaulted and handcuffed. Thugs would arrive at SDP meetings as arranged and disperse.
I remained silent and suggested that no one should speak up, and I carried on treating these problems subtly. But now that the situation has reached a critical point, the nation must be made aware of what is occurring in Rivers state.
He described yesterday’s events by saying, “SDP in Oyibo LGA were to hold a stakeholders meeting this morning. The gathering was broadcast live and was just a regular meeting, not a protest. I made a point of attending in order to motivate our supporters there, pay a condolence visit to one of the Kings, meet with the Chiefs of Oyibo, and meet with a few notable locals.
The gathering was scheduled to take place in a hall in Ayama that I had constructed, equipped, and gifted to the locals as a constituent project while serving as a senator for the Rivers South-East Senatorial District.
In spite of the fact that the Chiefs and Elders of the community had previously given their approval for us to hold the meeting, thugs led by Amb. Desmond Akawo, the Personal Assistant of the State Chairman of the PDP, broke into the location early this morning, scattered everything, and declared that we will not hold the meeting there.
“As soon as I received the information, I immediately notified the police and called for my followers to leave since our guiding principle has always been no provocation, no violence. The meeting was then moved from the hall to a private compound owned by one of our supporters; I left there to go and attend the meeting.
“When we arrived at Egberu, the border to Oyibo, criminals blocking the road with firearms, machetes, and other lethal weapons. They claimed that since Desmond Akawor lived here, we couldn’t access Oyibo and the SDP couldn’t exist in Oyibo LGA.
Security personnel assigned to me attempted to step in, but I defied security instructions and got out of the car to talk to the goons. Desmond’s children aren’t here, but you are, I told them. We are here to spread a message of wealth, growth, and hope.
If you agree with our message after we’ve finished speaking with you, join; if not, go your own way. However, I also have a village, and other people have been attending my village campaign; I never stopped anyone. The prior governor declared that they ought to be attacked, exactly like they are today, when the then-Gov’r was bringing GDI to our state.
“While I was a leader, I was the only one who insisted that nobody could be attacked in Gokana. Because I refused to follow the Governor (Amaechi) at the time, he was allowed to arrive in Gokana peacefully and conduct his campaign because I urged that he not be harmed.
a video witness
“The video of what occurred to us this morning is very obvious, and the people did not hide their faces or the pistols, machetes, or other weapons they were carrying,” Abe continued. And I only saw Desmond Akawor, the Rivers PDP Chairman, two days ago at a hotel here in GRA. He sponsored the attack on me and the peaceful members of my entourage (Port Harcourt).
“We were hugging and embracing as friends when he got the bright idea to send kids armed with knives and weapons to wait for me on the road. He would have pretended to be my friend to send my wife a sympathy message if I had passed away there. Friends like them are undesirable in our culture. Such leaders pose a threat to our democracy.
“I’ll return to Egberu and run for office elsewhere in Rivers State as allowed by the Constitution. It is imperative that Nigerians are informed about the situation in Rivers and the violent and coercive measures being taken to prevent other political parties from enjoying their democratic rights in this state. It won’t be permitted. We won’t accept it and won’t consent to it.
“I went to the police commissioner, and I praise him because in the short time he has been here, he has accomplished a lot, including convening a conference with all the political parties to stress the need for peace so that the political parties can conduct their campaigns.
We are all aware of what previously occurred in Rivers and the numerous lives that were lost needlessly as a result of individuals who refused to play by the rules’ hunger for power. We are once again weaving the same risky pact.
“This kind of behavior is intolerable, and I appeal to the governor (Wike), to all PDP leaders, especially Desmond Akawor himself. And since each of us has a hamlet and a road that runs through it, if we all behave in this way, the state will be impossible to control.
“Also at home are supporters and boys. So let’s alter the way we conduct ourselves. Let’s try something new and let democracy flourish in this era. We have reached a place where we should practice democracy after twenty or so years.”
False, as claimed by Abe
In reaction, Akawor told The primeir News, “Abe has enough issues with the APC and his supporters. He shouldn’t blame me for it as we recently met and hugged at an event and he is my friend.
“All right, let’s assume—without conceding—that he was visiting my home for a campaign. Is it not polite that he let me know that he was visiting my village? What exactly do the village boys worry me about? I wasn’t involved in anything that occurred there.
“This week has been really busy for me with project commissioning and other things. Abe shouldn’t use my name in connection with anything I’m not involved in.
They are politicians and only interested in politics. I have a successful career and won’t accept thuggery as a part of who I am.
Joy Oyaghiri-Fagbemi, Press Officer to Rivers PDP stated, “Aside the fact that Amb Akawor is a man of peace, he has on many occasions preached peace and advised that the votes will do the talking, a man famous for the quote, ‘In PDP we don’t have guns, we have God’, how then can he remotely be attached to an unholy act such as violence?
“This is nothing more than a deliberate ploy by foes looking for a pretext to justify their unpopularity since their performance was appalling. In this day and age, it goes without saying that people will turn to defamation in order to boost support for their political party and candidate.
