By Dipo Olowookere
Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the Amnesty Programme of the Governor Nyesom Wike administration in the state, describing it as a stage-managed affair.
The party in a statement signed by the state Chairman, Mr Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said that the arms being returned under the Amnesty Programme are being turned in by cultists allegedly empowered by Mr Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to kill APC members and cause insecurity in Rivers State before, during and after the 2015 general elections.
The statement issued on Sunday in Port Harcourt said: “We have continued to watch the drama where the Amnesty Programme script is being played out by the devious PDP government in the state and its militant wing.
“We hope that the movie directors in Africa Magic are watching the scenes with a view to adapting them for a blockbuster movie that will send leading movies on the continent to the archives.
“The Chairman of the Rivers State Amnesty Committee, Mr Kenneth Chindah, recently stated while submitting its report to Governor Wike that over 22,000 members of different cult groups have embraced the amnesty offer of the administration and that his committee observed that cultism is prevalent in all the 23 local government areas of the state.
“This is short of the 50,000 youths engaged for the devilish act by Wike and his cohorts to turn Rivers State into Rivers of blood.
“We are not deceived as we are aware that these cultists returning arms were the same group of young men equipped and empowered by the PDP leaders in Rivers State to intimidate, maim and kill opposition figures in the State.
“This unholy project has claimed the lives of some leading Rivers State politicians, including over 200 members of APC. With the main aim of employing violence to win the 2015 general election realised, they were asked to return their arms procured for them by PDP and wait for the 2019 general elections.
“Some of these dangerous cultists have been encouraged not to surrender their arms and to ensure that the rerun election in the State billed for December 10 should not hold as PDP is not ready for any peaceful rerun election in Rivers State, after which they will join others in another round of amnesty drama.
“Sadly, most of these cultists are now empowered through political appointments and elective offices to sustain the bloody nature of Rivers State politics that has turned the State into Rivers of blood and a laughing stock among civilised states in the world.
“But we wish to assure these blood suckers that the blood of the innocent Rivers State people killed because of election will never allow them any atom peace until justice is done on those who sponsored their deaths.”
However, Rivers APC has pleaded with the Nigeria Police to retrieve the returned arms it said is allegedly kept in the Rivers State Government House under the watch of Mr Wike for safe keep and question some of those who returned them as to the source of these arms.
This, the party said, would enable the Police to stop further procurement, proliferation and circulation of these deadly weapons, while also preventing them from being recycled in future to cause more mayhem in the State.
“The security agencies should help and restore hope to our dear State,” the party pleaded.
