Rivers PDP rivals exchange blows in Abuja
There was pandemonium at the National Campaign
Office of the Peoples Democratic Party, Daitama, Abuja on
Thursday as politicians suspected to be loyalists of the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, beat his suspected opponents.
Wike is among those aspiring to be the governorship
candidate of the party in Rivers State in 2015.
The thugs, who were in their tens, used dangerous weapons,
such as stick, bottles and stones to scare away members of
the party from the state from gaining entrance into the
building, where members of the National Integration
Committee, South-South zone, were meeting.
The meeting was aimed at settling grievances among
members of the ruling party in the zone and Thursday was
allotted to hear the grievances of those aggrieved in Rivers
State.
But only Wike and his supporters were allowed to enter the
venue of the meeting.
Many opponents of the minister, who came to present
petitions to the Senator Iya Abubakar-led committee were
beaten up by the thugs.
Those beaten included a legal practitioner, Mr. Tabotamuno
Dick; a former Commissioner for Water Resources under
former Governor Peter Odili, Mr. Lolo Ibieneye; Prof. Israel
Owate, Dr. Sowaribi Tolofari, Mr. Sara Egbe and Chief
Bekinbo Sobrekon.
Some journalists were also harassed while others had either
their cameras damaged or their tape recorders seized.
Dick, who is a legal adviser to the Network for Defence of
Democracy and Good Governance, suffered an injury near
his left eye as a result of the beating.
While the thugs were beating him, policemen attached to the
venue of the meeting refused to intervene, as one of them
said they were handicapped because of the personalities
involved.
However, the policemen joined the thugs to chase away rival
politicians who were said not to be members of Wike's
Grassroots Democratic Initiatives.
Dick, who spoke with our correspondent after the incident,
said, "I came to defend the petition we sent to the
committee, but see what happened here today.
"I have been beaten by thugs and these thugs were joined
by the policemen attached to someone who wants to be a
governor of my state. We shall wait to see."
Ibineneye also said that he was shoved and beaten, but
warned that the PDP in the state would soon explode,
adding that what happened in Abuja would have been a
child's play if the meeting had held in the state.
He said that out of 22 people who brought petitions to the
committee, only four people were allowed inside.
Another aggrieved member, who was also harassed and
sent out through the gate of the building, Sarigbe insisted
that there was no way another Ikwerre person would
succeed the current governor of the state, Mr. Rotimi
Amaechi.
Sarigbe, who is from Aku Local Government Area of the
state, said, "They are violating the party's constitution in the
state because the party recognises zoning of offices in the
state and everywhere.
"I'm a foundation member of the party in the state. These
people went through the back door and brought a two-man
executive. Since these two men came, they have been
violating the party's constitution. The party should listen to
us or the party would fail in the state."
Wike, after the meeting, insisted that there was peace in the
state PDP.
"There is peace in the party in the state," he said in a brief
interview after the meeting.
Some of the protesters later went to the national
headquarters of the party, where they were addressed by
the party's National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh.
While addressing them, Metuh assured them that the party
leadership would not allow the imposition of candidates on
members in any state of the federation.
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