No fewer that six women groups in Cross River State
have announced that they are ready to stage a protest against the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over alleged impunity by leadership of
the party.
This is according to the spokespersons of the groups, Madam Evelyn Okomah and Florence Ntui Ayang, who spoke on Monday at Abijang and Nsofang communities in Etung Local Government Area of the stat.
The women groups include: Okotne women group, Ejen Enop Association, Sonyima women in politics, Kam-na Obase, Unity and Eno-Ekpon socio-political groups, Daily Trust reports.
The spokespersons of the groups stated that they have been forced to rise against the party.
Okomah said: “There is going to be a powerful revolution. The political windstorm or revolution would blow away everything evil so as to give the party a new beginning.
“We shall mobilise all rural women against PDP. We have decided to desert the party. As you can see, we do not have access road to our communities.”
Another women leader, Pauline Ojong, while speaking at Etomi community stated that the defection of prominent PDP leaders in Cross River to Labour Party was an indication that the “umbrella was no more intact.” In a related development, hundreds of All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers state on Monday staged a peaceful protest to the state headquarters of Nigeria Police and office of the Department of State Security (DSS) in Port Harcourt, over incessant attacks on them.
It would be recalled that some members of the APC were attacked
recently during a rally held at Ward 10, Rumueme in Obio-Akpor community
of the area, leading to the hospitalization of no fewer than six
members of the party.
According to P.M NEWS report, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Tony Okocha, led the protest along with chairman, Caretaker Committee, Obio/Ákpor local government council, Dr. Lawrence Chuku in company of a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ike Samuel Chinwo, who marched through major streets, before heading to the main entrance of the Police headquarters on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
Some of the placards displayed by the protesters read, “Are APC members in Obio/Akpor not Nigerians?”, “Police stop encouraging violence in Obio/Akpor”, “APC will resist Police intimidation”, and “Police, enough is enough”, amongst others.
Speaking to newsmen during the protest Okocha said they were protesting series of violent attacks on members of the party in the area, which began on 3 January 2015.
In his words: “We are protesting against the orgy of violence in Obio/Akpor local government supervised by the police against the APC members in Obio/Akpor local government area. We have stated the cases in point. First is that on January 3, I was assaulted personally by Timothy Nsirim, (a former Chairman of Obio-Akpor local Government council and we made a complaint to the police, not even an invitation from the police on Timothy nor any query on him.
“So, he is walking tall on the streets of Port Harcourt, and he is still boasting that they will do more mayhem as they did to me on the January 3. And to make good his boast, on Saturday about seven APC members, who were holding a meeting were attacked in Rumueme.
“As if that was not enough, yesterday night, the leader of our party in Rumuolumeni and two of our members, the youth leader and one other person are lying critically ill from injuries inflicted on them by PDP members, this time in the presence of the police. They are lying critically in the hospital. We are fed up with this. We are on the verge of self-help but we want Nigerians to know our position before we resort to self help.”
Meanwhile, the commissioner of Police in Cross River state, Dan Bature, while addressing the protesters at Police headquarters, stated that the Police would look into the complaints of members of APC in Obio/Akpor, with a view to addressing them so that events leading to the February polls would be under firm control.
This is according to the spokespersons of the groups, Madam Evelyn Okomah and Florence Ntui Ayang, who spoke on Monday at Abijang and Nsofang communities in Etung Local Government Area of the stat.
The women groups include: Okotne women group, Ejen Enop Association, Sonyima women in politics, Kam-na Obase, Unity and Eno-Ekpon socio-political groups, Daily Trust reports.
The spokespersons of the groups stated that they have been forced to rise against the party.
Okomah said: “There is going to be a powerful revolution. The political windstorm or revolution would blow away everything evil so as to give the party a new beginning.
“We shall mobilise all rural women against PDP. We have decided to desert the party. As you can see, we do not have access road to our communities.”
Another women leader, Pauline Ojong, while speaking at Etomi community stated that the defection of prominent PDP leaders in Cross River to Labour Party was an indication that the “umbrella was no more intact.” In a related development, hundreds of All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers state on Monday staged a peaceful protest to the state headquarters of Nigeria Police and office of the Department of State Security (DSS) in Port Harcourt, over incessant attacks on them.
APC protesters.
According to P.M NEWS report, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Tony Okocha, led the protest along with chairman, Caretaker Committee, Obio/Ákpor local government council, Dr. Lawrence Chuku in company of a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ike Samuel Chinwo, who marched through major streets, before heading to the main entrance of the Police headquarters on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
Some of the placards displayed by the protesters read, “Are APC members in Obio/Akpor not Nigerians?”, “Police stop encouraging violence in Obio/Akpor”, “APC will resist Police intimidation”, and “Police, enough is enough”, amongst others.
Speaking to newsmen during the protest Okocha said they were protesting series of violent attacks on members of the party in the area, which began on 3 January 2015.
In his words: “We are protesting against the orgy of violence in Obio/Akpor local government supervised by the police against the APC members in Obio/Akpor local government area. We have stated the cases in point. First is that on January 3, I was assaulted personally by Timothy Nsirim, (a former Chairman of Obio-Akpor local Government council and we made a complaint to the police, not even an invitation from the police on Timothy nor any query on him.
“So, he is walking tall on the streets of Port Harcourt, and he is still boasting that they will do more mayhem as they did to me on the January 3. And to make good his boast, on Saturday about seven APC members, who were holding a meeting were attacked in Rumueme.
“As if that was not enough, yesterday night, the leader of our party in Rumuolumeni and two of our members, the youth leader and one other person are lying critically ill from injuries inflicted on them by PDP members, this time in the presence of the police. They are lying critically in the hospital. We are fed up with this. We are on the verge of self-help but we want Nigerians to know our position before we resort to self help.”
Meanwhile, the commissioner of Police in Cross River state, Dan Bature, while addressing the protesters at Police headquarters, stated that the Police would look into the complaints of members of APC in Obio/Akpor, with a view to addressing them so that events leading to the February polls would be under firm control.
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