The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has
raised the alarm that there are secret plans to prosecute the state Publicity
Secretary of the party, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, and two others on trumped-up
charges.
Nwanosike and two former local government caretaker
committee chairmen, Roland Sekibo and Odiari Princewill, were arrested by
soldiers in Ulakwo 2, Etche LGA during Saturday’s supplementary election in the
area.
Also arrested were 63 suspected political thugs, who were
said to be caught with dynamites, banned drug and cutlasses.
But the state Chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah,
insisted that the arrest of the trio was unnecessary since they were in Etche
as accredited party agents, adding that those who wanted to “silence” Nwanosike
were behind his (Nwanosike) arrest.
Obuah, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Jerry Needam, said, “Their (Nwanosike, Sekibo and Princewill)
transfer to the State Criminal Investigation Department was influenced by a
well-known APC chieftain in the state who has always wanted Mr. Nwanosike dead.
“The state PDP chairman believes the dust being thrown into
the eyes of the investigating police officers is borne out of hate and
bitterness against the arrested PDP chieftains and the singular desire to find
cause to nail Mr. Nwanosike for refusing the APC to carry out their sinister
plans especially in Rivers East senatorial district during the elections.
“Even as they are being illegally detained under inhuman
conditions at the SCID, pressures are being mounted on the security men to
transfer them to Abuja in order to deny them further access to their families.
“We insist that Mr. Samuel Nwanosike and the three others
are innocent and were officially in Etche during the rerun election as our
party agents for the purpose of monitoring the election and duly acted within
the ambit of the law.
“Their arrest, no doubt, is a clear case of witch-hunt and
the identity of the person behind all the trumped-up charges and travails of
the party officers is not lost on us.”
Reacting, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr.
Chris Finebone, described the PDP’s allegation as an empty accusation that had
no bearing with reality and should be ignored.
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