More reactions trail the explosion and fracas that happened in Thursday’s governorship campaign rally of the Rivers APC with the police and the party giving conflicting accounts. This time the Rumuwoji Community Council in a press release has stated the police account is not accurate.
The chairman of the Community, Ike Wigodo, on Friday described the police statement as mischievous, saying he expected the police to have conducted proper investigations into the matter before rushing to issue a statement.
Ike Wigodo stated the community are united under his leadership and is not factionalized as the police report claims.
“To set the record straight, Rumuwoji Community Council is not factionalized. We are united under my leadership.”
He alleged it was members of the PDP in the community that were responsible for attempting to stop the APC rally. He said “Members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the community were the ones who attempted to disrupt the APC rally in the community, even after the APC had secured the use of the community playground to hold its rally.”
Wigodo says it was purely a political crisis between the APC and the PDP in the community and not chieftaincy or leadership tussle.
“So, it was not a chieftaincy or leadership tussle as claimed by the police. It’s purely a political crisis between PDP and APC members in the community.”
Wigodo who revealed that the community has long resolved the conditions to be meant for political parties to use the field says he is not changing the game in the middle of the way.
“I reminded them of our resolution in October last year, when we took a decision that any political party that wants to use the playground should pay the sum of N200,000.00 and since APC had paid, they should allow them to use the space. I insisted that we can not change our decision at the middle of the game. But some of them were not comfortable because they are PDP members.” he said.
He called on all political parties in the community to remain peaceful and play by the rules and not cause disunity in the community. He urged Rumuwoji residents to go about their businesses without fear. He called on the police to properly investigate the issue and always remain politically neutral.
