The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has expressed outrage over the alleged assassination attempt on the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the State APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, and the deputy governorship candidate of the party in the April 2015 elections, Hon. Asita O. Asita.
The party said the trio narrowly escaped death on Sunday afternoon after Peterside’s vehicle in which they were travelling from the Port Harcourt International Airport was attacked by gunmen in two utility vehicles belonging to Emeka Woke, Chief of Staff to Governor Nyesom Wike. They, however, survived by making a quick detour to the nearby DSS office to seek refuge.
“This brazen attempt to snuff out the lives of three key leaders of Rivers APC is outrageous, an affront and condemnable,” the party said in a statement even as it thanked God for safeguarding Peterside, Ikanya and Asita.
Rivers APC in a statement issued Monday in Port Harcourt held Governor Wike responsible for the assassination attempt, calling on relevant security agencies to quickly arrest and interrogate him and to hasten to bring the full weight of the law on all those involved in the dastardly act. The party said: “We have often cried out about Wike’s bloodthirstiness but, unfortunately, nothing was done to keep him in check. Before last weekend’s State and National Assembly rerun elections in the State, we had openly cried out following Wike’s open threats on the lives of President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, and Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Those who thought we were shouting wolf where one does not exist now know better.
“On the day of the rerun election, 19th March, 2016 the strategy of Chief Wike dressing his gang of killers in police and military uniforms was duly exposed when his Special Assistant on Special Projects, Mr. Cyril Dum Wite, was caught with N40 million, arms, police and army uniforms in his car. We were not surprised because to install Wike as a Governor, 100 APC members had to be sent to their early graves. In the countdown to the rerun elections, an army major and two soldiers, as well as an Immigration Officer, were killed in Wike’s desperation to install his stooges as members of National and State Assemblies. Also, an APC chieftain was beheaded with his wife and his son killed. Another APC chieftain was buried alive while yet another was burnt alive.
“Now that Chief Wike has fully crossed the line by attempting to snuff out the lives of our leaders in broad daylight, we call on the relevant security agencies to move in quickly to interrogate him and to bring the full weight of the law on his killer gang. Wike is being emboldened by the immunity he enjoys as Governor but he does not enjoy immunity from interrogation for murder-related crimes.”