LG election: Rivers APC secretariat rocked as dynamite explodes
All Progressives Congress secretariat along Aba Road in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital has been rocked by explosion in the early hours of Saturday morning.
It was reported that the explosives suspected to be dynamite shattered the building and other properties.
Although this is the second time that the APC secretariat would be rocked with explosives this year. This explosion comes just as Rivers prepare for their LG election
Grace Iringe-Koko, spokespetson for the state police command when reached said she has not gotten a report on it and will in turn give a situation report when she gets the details.
Meanwhile, while speaking with a Channels TV correspondent, the Chairman of the faction of APC in Rivers State, Tony Okocha explained what transpired.
He said About 3:20am some gun-trotting young men with their explosives and all that, came here and dropped the first explosive, maybe because the one they dropped here did not detonate, they came back the second time to burn the structure – look at the security house is gone.
“Behind me you will see that there was also an attempt, our people came and we were able to quench the fire”.
Is APC secretariat here any voting unit? There is no voting unit here. So, it was deliberate to see how they can annihilate us, it is deliberate to see how they can embarrass us, it is deliberate to see how they can decimate us,”
Okocha in his statement expressed that the blast was politically motivated because of the tussle triangle between Fubara, Wike and the Court. He was positive that the aim was to destabilise them.
He went further to say “For the avoidance of doubt, we emphasize unequivocally that the 5th October 2024 Local Government Council Elections in Rivers State will hold as scheduled, and there is no going back,” RSIEC said in a statement by its Commissioner for Civil Education/Public Affairs Tobin Tamunotonye.
Okocha also made it clear that RSIEC is empowered to conduct local government elections in the state.
According to him, the RSIEC LAW of 2018 and the judgment of Hon Justice I.P.C. Igwe of the High Court of Rivers State delivered on 4th September 2024, and the 1999 Constitution gives power and credibility to the agency to hold LG elections.
