Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, south-south Nigeria has fingered the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience, for the violence that marred the campaign of the All Progressives Congress in Okrika, Rivers State on Tuesday.
A police officer was said to have been killed while many others sustained injury after gunmen invaded the venue of the campaign and shot sporadically at the crowd.
Okrika is the town of the First Lady.
Governor Amaechi said the Dame Patience should be blamed for the incident which disrupted the political activity in the area.
Amaechi said: “clearly the wife of the president does not want APC to campaign in her home, Okrika.”
Speaking with journalists in Abuja after a meeting of APC leaders at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre condemned the act of violence and expressed disappointment over the inability of law enforcement agents’ to ensure a hitch free campaign for the APC, despite having earlier assured the party of security and gave approval for the campaign to hold.
“Again, as usual, the wife of the president won’t allow the APC hold rally in that place (Okrika). The wife of the president and the governorship candidate of Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP in Rivers again organized thugs to disrupt APC rally.
“As usual, the police couldn’t protect us, we are talking about over 200 policemen. I asked the commissioner of police and he said they have over 200 policemen there.
“Yet, three explosions and then they opened fire on members of APC. The Channels TV reporter I hear, is injured, stabbed, and members of APC injured.
“We had meetings with DSS (Directorate of State Security) and police and they confirmed we could go ahead. There were 200 policemen and there were over 20 to 30 DSS men who came there and they did nothing,” he said.
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