The IGP should have acted earlier

In the latest incident, multiple bomb blasts rocked the vicinity of the venue moments after the rally got underway. Party leaders and their supporters scampered for safety as the blasts went off in quick succession at the town’s National Secondary School field. Eyewitness accounts said that following the first explosion, an announcement was made from […]

In the latest incident, multiple bomb blasts rocked the vicinity of the venue moments after the rally got underway. Party leaders and their supporters scampered for safety as the blasts went off in quick succession at the town’s National Secondary School field.
Eyewitness accounts said that following the first explosion, an announcement was made from the podium requesting everyone in the VIP stand to vacate the area. The second explosion occurred in a classroom, and quickly followed by a third. About 20 minutes later, the APC governorship candidate for Rivers State, Dakuku Peterside, rallied his supporters and returned to the venue for the programme to resume.
As speeches were being made, sporadic gunshots again rent the air from behind the Okrika Grammar School and the cemetery close by.  Anti-riot policemen fired warning shots to try to restore order; one man was arrested on suspicion he had links to the attack.
In a statement later in Port Harcourt, Peterside said one police officer was killed and many APC supporters sustained injuries. The state’s police command confirmed one personnel was killed. A reporter for the television station Channels was stabbed in the neck. Peterside blamed the mayhem on the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accusing a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who had failed in a previous attempt to have himself installed as Speaker, for allegedly being at the head of a group of thugs to invade the rally venue. Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi also put the blame of the attack on the PDP. The PDP issued a statement claiming that the incident was a clash between rival cult gangs. The Inspector General of Police has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
The APC in Rivers State appears to be the target of a series of bomb attacks since the party’s political campaigns for the 2015 elections kicked off. It includes the bombing of its secretariat at Abam Ama in Okrika on January 11, 2015 and the attack on another of its secretariat at Omoku, in which about eight persons were killed.
When the party scheduled January 24, 2015, for its campaign rally, it was called off following attacks on the venue that it blamed on the PDP. The second rally was fixed for February 9, 2015 but that too had to be postponed to February 12, 2015 at the instance of the state commissioner of police, who said the shift was to enable the police put in place adequate security measures. The date was again rescheduled from February 12, 2015 to February 17, 2015 because the first lady was in town.
It is therefore questionable that the police would fail to provide security for the event they had requested be rescheduled for security reasons. This should be one of the terms of reference of the IGP’s probe panel.
In any case, why did it require the killing of a policeman to galvanise the IGP into action? For months, tension has been building up in the state, made tenser by the involvement of persons close to the Presidency who exploit political differences for selfish gains. The Presidency bears some responsibility for the bloody incidents because it has consistently neglected to show leadership and bring calm to the warring parties.  There is no reason whatsoever why the first lady’s presence in her hometown should prevent campaign rallies from holding.
The pattern of attacks on APC in Rivers State indicates a plan to thwart any attempt by it to conduct election campaigns; this is an anti-democratic and dictatorial stance that should be condemned.  All parties, including those in Rivers State, should live up to the Peace Accord signed by party leaders last month, and refrain from stirring trouble. The IGP should make the report of his committee public and action taken against all those found to be involved or had been negligent.