Election Tension Rises in Rivers As Attacks On Opposition Candidates Escalate

With just a couple of weeks left for Nigerians to go to the polls again, the fear of election violence has gripped the people and residents of Rivers State following consistent attacks on the campaign trains of opposition parties in the state.
Only on Monday, some gunmen attacked the campaign party of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Senator Magnus Abe, as they visited communities in Ahoada West Local Government Area.
Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the incident, said, “There was a Pre-rally attack by unknown armed men on the campaign convoy of Senator Magnus Abe, while on his way to attend a rally at Akinima in Ahoada West Local Government Area. Security personnel attached to him were able to rebuff the attack.
“Upon receipt of the information, tactical teams were immediately deployed to the area to reinforce the personnel earlier posted to provide security at the campaign venue. The teams were able to restore peace and normalcy in the area, paving way for a successful rally.”
Iringe-Koko however said the police have launched an investigation into the attack on the SDP flag bearer with a view to arresting the hoodlums.
A clip of the incident showed members of the campaign train scampering to safety in the ensuing chaos and the exchange of gunfire between the attackers and the candidate’s security details ensued.
Abe said, “We went there, and they went and used two vehicles to block the road so that we cannot get there. Nigeria is a democracy and all of us have the right to go to the people and share our ideas with them. If you have ruled the people for seven years, the people should be happy with you.
“If people are not happy with you it is because you are not doing well. Now, you are sending people’s children to come and block other politicians from talking to the people.
Abe’s campaign train had received attacks in Oyigbo, Port Harcourt and Tai Local Government Areas. At Tai and Eleme Local Government Areas, the party offices of SDP were vandalized by hirelings of another political party.
After Monday’s attack, a supporter of Abe had offered to provide him with a bulletproof vehicle, an offer which the candidate turned down. The man, who visited the campaign office of Abe with the jeep, said if Abe was killed, the struggle he was leading would be aborted. But Abe was reported to have said it would be immoral for him to protect himself when his supporters following him were not.
Other candidates that had come under similar attacks were Dumo-Lulu Briggs, the governorship candidate of Accord, who was attacked in Etche Local Government Area; and Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress, whose rally at Ojukwu Square, Mile One was invaded by gunmen released explosive devices at the ground. About four people sustained different degrees of injury in the injury.
Also suspected political thugs had attempted to burn down the house of Ezemonye Ezekiel Amadi, a former Commissioner in the state and the APC candidate for Emohua/Ikwerre federal constituency in the House of Representatives. The incident occurred at his home in Omerelu, his hometown, in the Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.
But youths of the community youths were said to have intercepted one of the assailants and arrested him. Ezekiel-Amadi said the assailants broke the glass and set fire through the curtains.
Apart from gun attacks on rallies and campaign trains, there has been an increasing wave of destruction of campaign posters and billboards across the state. Somehow, the police have not been able to make arrests.
Only last week, the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Rivers State expressed concern about the peaceful elections. The chapel, which organized a week-long programme to mark its 2023 week, used Media Vigilance Ahead Of Peaceful 2023 Election In Rivers State.
The Chairman of the Chapel, Comrade Amaechi Okonkwo, said the journalists were using the occasion of the week to invite politicians and political parties to commit themselves to peaceful elections. Okokwo said if politicians killed the people they were fighting to rule, who would they rule over?
He said everything must be done to stop the state from returning to previous election experiences where bloody clashes gave the state a bad tag of Rivers of Blood.