The people of Rumuwoji Community in Port Harcourt City local government area of Rivers State have dismissed the report by the police that it was a chieftaincy issue and sharing of N200,000 paid by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that caused crisis during APC governorship campaign rally in the community last Thursday.
No fewer than five members APC members were seriously injured when three explosives suspected to be dynamite went off simultaneously during the flag-off of the leading opposition political party’s governorship campaign rally at the popular Ojukwu Field in Diobu area of Port Harcourt.
The Rivers State Police Command had in a statement signed by its spokesman,, Grace Iringe-Koko, said no explosion occurred during the APC rally, adding that the crisis was between two factions in the community.
But the Rumuwoji community in a statement signed by its chairman, Ike Wigodo, described the police statement as mischievous, saying he expected the police to have conducted proper investigations into the matter before rushing to issue a statement.
Wigodo said Rumuwoji community remained one and united under his leadership as against the claim of factionalisation made by the police,
He said, “To set the records straight, Rumuwoji Community Council is not factionalised. We are united under my leadership.
“Members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the community were the ones who attempted to disrupt the APC rally in the community, even after the APC had secured the use of the community playground to hold its rally.
“They wanted me to deny APC the use of the space but I refused because APC had paid N200,000 for the use of the space.
“I reminded them of our resolution in October last year, when we took a decision that any political party that wants to use the playground should pay the sum of N200,000.00 and since APC had paid, they should allow them to use the space.
“I insisted that we can not change our decision at the middle of the game. But some of them were not comfortable because they are PDP members.
“So, it was not a chieftaincy or leadership tussle as claimed by the police. It’s purely a political crisis between PDP and APC members in the community.
“Members of the community belong to different political parties including APC and PDP. Of course, they are free to belong to any political party of their choice. No one should intimidate another for exercising this freedom. That’s the beauty of democracy.
“Rumuwoji is a peaceful community, therefore, we should not allow politics to tear us apart or bring disunity among us.”
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