For the first time since 1999, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) national leadership will not stage its presidential campaign in Rivers State ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
The Rivers State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council said yesterday that its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, would no longer hold the planned rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, which has the greatest voter population in the Southsouth and Southeast.
Senator Lee Maeba, Chairman of Rivers PDP-PCC, blamed the development on a schism between the council and the Rivers State chapter of the PDP led by Governor Nyesom Wike.
Maeba claimed that the cancellation was caused by the explosive climate generated by the governor’s foot soldiers, who he claimed were trained to consider Atiku as an enemy of the state.
He launched a barrage of insults against Atiku’s supporters, claiming that the circumstances building up to the proposed campaign had all the hallmarks of a bloodbath.
Maeba urged President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in Rivers and force security agencies to carry out their duties impartially.
In a rapid response, Governor Wike stated that Atiku canceled the PDP presidential rally because he did not have enough people to fill the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, which had been permitted for the event. He denied the PDP-claim claim that the campaign was postponed due to fear of bloodshed.
He claimed that despite receiving approval for the site, campaigners for the PDP presidential candidate staged several scenarios and then fled due to a shortage of capacity.
Dr. Sekibo, the D-G of the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation in Rivers, was challenged by the governor to identify the assassin of Chief Aminasoari Kala (AK) Dikibo, former PDP national vice chairman (South-south).
Wike, speaking at the Nyemoni Secondary School field in Abonnema town, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, said the PDP-PCC in Abuja had sought to him permission to use a venue for their rally, which he granted. He stated that after realizing they lacked the potential to mobilize the public to fill the stadium, the PCC went to clear another piece of land owned by the state government at the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout, which was not allowed.
He claimed that instead of returning to prepare the permitted stadium, the PCC began fabricating false charges of threats to life as the reason for postponing their gathering in Rivers State.
