For the first time since 1999, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will not hold its presidential campaign in Rivers State ahead of the February 25 poll.
The Rivers chapter of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council confirmed on Monday that its candidate Atiku Abubakar would no longer hold the scheduled rally in Rivers, which has the highest voter population in the Southsouth and the Southeast.
The chairman of Rivers PDP PCC, Senator Lee Maeba, blamed the development on the crisis between the council and Rivers chapter of the PDP led by Governor Nyesom Wike.
Maeba alleged that the volatile atmosphere created by the Governor’s foot soldiers, who he said had been made to view Atiku as the enemy of the state, led to the cancellation.
He reeled out series of attacks against Atiku’s campaigners in the state insisting that events leading to the proposed campaign had indications it could end up in bloodshed.
He further berated security agencies in the state saying they had not been able to restore confidence in the populace and Atiku campaigners.
Maeba called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in Rivers and compel security agencies to discharge their responsibilities without partiality.Maeba said: “Governor Wike has branded the supporters of Atiku as enemies of the state and vowed to crush them.
“He approved the use of Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for the presidential rally but upon the campaign council visit to the stadium to ascertain the status of the facility, he berated their visit and put a rule that they could only visit the stadium 48 hours to the fixed date of the rally.
“Regrettably and predictably, the Governor canceled the approval. This unstable and unreliable stance of the governor led the campaign council to source an alternative venue and got a private parcel of land at Rainbow Town. The governor has made it impossible to secure a peaceful use of that facility.
“This is also supported by the injunction obtained ex parte from the magistrate court by his attorney-general to seal all campaign offices of Alh. Atiku Abubakar in Rivers State. It is part of the wider plot to maliciously put away members of the campaign council until the presidential election is over.
“In the light of the above submissions, we the state campaign council in total constructive engagement with the national campaign council, the candidate and the party, having seen and evaluated the bodily harm, believe that no loss of life can be tolerated, accepted before during and after the presidential election and agreed with our principals on the need to shelve and cancel the rally to avoid any death because the victory of Alh Abubakar doesn’t deserve spilling of blood of even one citizen of Rivers State.
“This may be painful but it is the best decision to take as no human death can be excused on the insistence of holding a rally due to the brigandage which the security agency has not been able to wade in and restore confidence security wise on the populace and our members”.