Gunmen kill one in Buguma, set corpse ablaze in alleged reprisal attack

As Rivers govt fires back at APC National Chair

—THERE has been a reprisal killing in Buguma, Asari Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. Community sources alleged that supporters of late Ofinijete Amachree, who was murdered on Tuesday, were behind the latest killing on Wednesday.

They gave the name of the person killed as Baine, adding that his remains were also set ablaze at the sand field area of the community.

“It was clearly a reprisal killing. The persons behind this did exactly what happened to the late All Progressives Congress, APC, member, late Amachree. They set his corpse on fire as well,” the source said.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmad Muhammad, at press time, had not responded to a text message sent to him by our correspondent on the issue.

Meanwhile, the  Rivers State Government has alleged that the military invaded Abonnema community in Akuku Toru council and harassed members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the area.

It has fired back at the acting National Chairman of  APC,  Mr Segun Oni, describing his allegations that Governor  Nyesom Wike was behind recent acts of  violence in the state as a ploy to flood the state with soldiers and use them to hijack ballot boxes in the March 19 re-run elections.

The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, who made the allegation, yesterday, said that the military operation took place in the early hours of yesterday.

He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the military to order, saying that they should stop the alleged politically motivated operations in the state.

The spokesman, 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt Army Barracks, Captain Lazarus Eli, however, said that the military operation in the early hours of yesterday in Abonnema had nothing to do with politics. Also, APC, in a statement, yesterday, by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Chris Finebone, said that it would not play politics with the lives of the people of the state.

Finebone said that his party has been at the receiving end of the violence that has lingered in the state for over six years, adding that supporters of APC were being butchered in the 23 LGAs of the state.

Meanwhile, Governor Wike has urged the  people of the state to remain  resolute  in the protection of their votes during  the  forthcoming re-run legislative elections.

Commissioning the Phase One of the  reconstructed Nkpogu Bridge/Road and ground breaking for Phase 2, Governor Wike said that  the  people of  Rivers State insist on  free and fair elections  despite the  antics of  the  APC.

He charged the people of the state  to  vote for  PDP  candidates  during  the  re-run lelections for the sustenance of development  in the state.

Wike said: “There is no need to  allow  the  APC to come back to the state.  If you allow them to  come back,  they will  scuttle  development projects for our people.  We are children of light. We are in the promised land and we cannot return to the days of darkness represented by the APC. We must protect our votes to reclaim our mandate. This is our opportunity  to tell Nigerians  once again  that this is a PDP state.”

Similarly, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, in a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt accused the APC of taking propaganda to a ridiculous  height by describing  every dead person in  the state as a member of the APC.

“The attempt by the APC to appropriate every dead person in River State as their member might mean that the APC is in fact the sponsor of these satanic cult clashes, all in an attempt to destabilize the Wike administration.

“The APC’s reckless and false allegations were part of a plan to incite the military and other security forces against the people of Rivers State. It is a crude plan to militarize the state and use the security forces to steal the results of the forthcoming re-run election,” he said.

 

Gunmen kill one in Buguma, set corpse ablaze in alleged reprisal attack