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Protesters during Day six of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest in Port Harcourt on Tuesday. Credit: NAN.
The protest against hunger and #EadBadGovernanceInNigeria took a new twist in Rivers State as the Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress in Port Harcourt, the state capital was attacked by hoodlums suspected to be protesters.
The secretariat located along Aba Road which was touched with a gigantic billboard, signpost and the party’s flags and posters bearing the faces of party chieftains were vandalized.
The hoodlums reportedly invaded the party secretariat on Monday night and pulled the entrance gate before security personnel attached to the Secretariat repelled them.
Speaking on the incident at a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the state APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Tony Okocha, condemned the act, alleging that those behind the attack were sponsored.
Okocha further said the vandalisation of the secretariat of the main opposition party in the state was orchestrated by people with vested interest who he said are intimidated by the party’s rising profile in the state.
He added that the attack was meant to get at President Bola Tinubu and make the state the epicentre of the ongoing protest.
The chairman stated, “Today the issue on point is the vandalization of the APC Secretariat situated at the Port Harcourt-Aba Express Road in Port Harcourt by hoodlums who were sponsored by a source we have identified.
“We are not scared to name the source because the situation has become very political. Of course, why is it that it’s only the APC that was isolated for destruction? However, the millions of those attacks will not stop us in APC from speaking for the people of Rivers State.
“It will not stop us from being diametrically opposed to a clueless government. It can’t stop us. Is like when the Rivers State House of Assembly was pulled down it did not stop the Assembly from sitting.”
Okocha expressed concerns that the assailants had left a note that they would return, saying he had yet to fathom the reason for such an unlawful act.
“Our Secretariat was attacked yesterday (Monday) and they left us with a note that they are coming back again I don’t know whether their coming back will be today or some other time because it was about 5.00 pm on Monday that they vandalized the Secretariat complex.
“I am aware and we were briefed that there are plans to make Rivers State the epicentre of protest for obvious reasons. One reason is that they need to get to Mr President that Mr President does not seem to be supporting them.
“We therefore demand and call on the Rivers State Police Command to beef up security around and within our Secretariat to prevent further attack and if possible provide security for us because and my committee members have our offices at the Secretariat and we operate from there.”
