The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said the plots by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to forcefully take over Rivers State will fail.
On Wednesday, the leadership of the APC in Rivers State had urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state, alleging that the state was in a war.
The call was made by the APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Tony Okocha, during a media briefing in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
He said: “Rivers State is at war, and the dramatis personae who are responsible for the mayhem that has claimed lives are known.
“The governor is helpless, the police bias helpless. Therefore, the APC in Rivers State is calling for a state of emergency in Rivers State as a way of taming the mayhem, and the upsurge that is going on in the state.
“I call on the federal government to act fast in this regard,” Mr Okocha said.
But reacting, the PDP said in a statement issued by the national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Wednesday that Mr Okocha’s statement exposes APC’s intention to instigate a crisis in the oil-rich state.
He emphasised that the state remains a stronghold of the PDP and any attempt of forceful takeover will be fiercely rejected.
The statement read in part, “The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party has been drawn to yet another hallucinating press conference by the Rivers State Caretaker Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Tony Okocha, wherein he again fantasised that the will of the people of Rivers State as expressed in the governorship election which produced Governor Siminalayi Fubara can be upturned by the imagination of the APC.
“This reckless outburst by Tony Okocha further exposes the sinister plot by the APC in Rivers State, which has been seeking ways to instigate crisis, forcefully overthrow a democratic order, and impose an anti-democratic regime in Rivers State in clear violation of Section 1 sub-section 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“The use of the word ‘war’ by Mr Okocha in his thoughtless statement clearly shows an evil intention which has been firmly resisted and will continue to be resisted by the people of Rivers State.
“The APC in Rivers State should note that its malevolent scheme to instigate crisis and forcefully take over the state has failed. Rivers State is a stronghold of the PDP, and the people are solidly behind the government of the PDP in the state.
“The PDP calls on the Federal Government and indeed the national leadership of the APC to, as a matter of urgency, rein in and caution Mr Tony Okocha to stop being an agent of destabilisation and a threat to democracy in Nigeria.
“Our party demands that the Inspector-General of Police immediately invite the Rivers State APC Caretaker Chairman and hold him personally liable for his utterances, which constitute a clear and present danger to the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria and to peace and tranquillity in Rivers State.
“The international community should also take note of the reckless outburst of this individual, whose actions and utterances are capable of negatively affecting the overall security of the country.
“The PDP, for the umpteenth time, warns the APC to perish the thought of forcefully taking over Rivers State, as its attempts to undermine the will of the people will always come to naught.”
