The Rivers police command on Wednesday invited the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tonye Cole for questioning over the alleged shooting to death of yet to be named protester in Port Harcourt on Monday.
PDP and APC supporters clashed at the INEC office on Monday over the issue of the release and inspection of CTC of election materials for the February 25 and March 18 2023, Presidential and Governorship elections in Rivers state.
A yet-to-be-named PDP supporter was alleged to have been shot during the clash that ensued when PDP protesters and some APC officials met at the INEC office. The victim who was said to have been shot in the leg later died and his remains allegedly deposit at the military hospital in Port Harcourt.
Cole’s invitation by the police came about 24 hours after PDP supporters, mostly youths who continued the protest Tuesday morning petitioned the State Commissioner of Police, Effiong Okon, to have him (Cole) arrested for allegedly ordering his personal security details to shoot the protester.
Confirming the petition of the PDP, its spokesman Tambari Sydney said the petition followed the death of the victim in the hospital.
Also confirming the invitation of Cole by the police, Darlington Nwauju, Publicity Secretary of Rivers APC questioned why the police had not invited those mentioned in the attack on the APC candidate Cole and some of the party members.
Meanwhile, the PDP supporters continued their protest Wednesday, which had seen them take over a portion of the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway and continue to disrupt the free flow of traffic, social and economic life on that axis of Port Harcourt.
Wednesday’s protest saw the PDP supporters inviting juju priests to pour libations and make incantations on the expressway leading to the entrance of the INEC office with dreadfully looking masquerades dancing and parading the area.
The action has been eliciting comments from different quarters of the state with a majority of the people condemning the PDP for its unseemly attitude and sustained efforts to depict the state in a bad light.
In his reaction, the Governorship candidate of the Action Alliance, Dr Dawari George made a clarion call for civility in Rivers State condemning what he described as “shameful and condemnable disturbance of public peace by political actors in our beloved state”.
In a statement signed by George Wednesday morning and sent to our correspondent, the AA candidate said; “Conventional and social media are replete with the shameful and condemnable disturbance of public peace by political actors in our beloved state.
“These reports constitute an unacceptable attack on our collective psyche, and a menace to the well-meaning indigenes and residents of Rivers State whose right to a decent society is being unjustly violated.
“The quest for political offices must remain a civil, persuasive engagement and not a ceaseless confrontation. The people and their welfare must remain the ultimate goal of all.
“We take serious exceptions to the actions and inactions of INEC and the security agencies who fell short of citizens’ expectations in the management of the electoral process.
“As an umpire in the electoral process, INEC should demonstrate impartiality in the discharge of their responsibilities while the security agencies should rise to the challenge of reining in the excesses of politicians.
“To do otherwise will not only be adding salt to injury but an open invitation to anarchy. This would be a great disservice to our dear state.”
He, therefore, urged all contending parties to pursue the quest for political power with decorum saying that posterity would not forgive those who put Rivers state under constant, undeserving siege.
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