PDP NEC meeting: Fubara’s loyalists threaten protest over detained Rivers lawmaker in Abuja
Loyalists to the Rivers state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and kinsmen of a member of the State House of Assembly, Sokari Goodboy have threatened to stage a peaceful protest in Abuja over the arrest and detention of the lawmaker.
Hon Goodboy was allegedly arrested by policemen outside the venue of the Peoples’ Democratic Party National Executive Committee, PDP, NEC meeting in Abuja last week.
Also, the members of the ‘Simplified Movement’ of the PDP in Ahoada West LGA alleged that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, masterminded the arrest, even as they issued a 24-hour ultimatum to him to ensure the immediate release of the member representing Aboada West Constituency in the House.
Also arrested along with the lawmaker was another PDP chieftain and loyalists of the Rivers State Governor, Ezebunwo Ichemati in Abuja.
In a viral video released, a lady who claimed to be a member of Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s media team, said the two men who are loyalists of Governor Fubara, were arrested on the orders of a Local Government Chairman in Rivers State, Wike’s loyalist.
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Briefing the press weekend, a former Commissioner of Urban Development in the State and leader of the group, Dr. Reason Onya, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to release the lawmaker, insisting that he committed no offence.
“We call on the President, His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, a renowned dogged democrat to immediately call on the Inspector General of Police to release our representative in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Sokari Goodboy Sokari from detention.
“He has committed no crime to warrant his humiliating and gestapo like arrest to our understanding. Thus we plead that Abuja, our Nation’s Pride and Center of Unity should not be turned to a despotic Federal Capital Territory.”
Onya also called for an investigation into the arrest and urged that those seen in the viral video, believed to have orchestrated the arrest be fished out and followed up with a view to punish them in accordance with the relevant sections of the Police Act 2020.
“The IGP should use the machinery of his revered office, to fish out the civilian(s), especially the chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, that was caught on camera, of his repressible act”.
The former commissioner warned that the lawmaker should not be hurt in any way, stressing that failure to release him would lead them to take legal actions.
“That our representative in the Police custody should not be harmed, tortured, psychologically or otherwise, harassed and exposed to any form of danger to his life and wellbeing like the case in despotic regimes that our dear president Bola Tinubu, passed through while fighting for a democratic Nigeria.
“Failure of the IGP to ensure the release of our representative, we will be forced to seek appropriate redress as law abiding citizens from a court of competent jurisdiction to try this matter,” he said.
Similarly, a former Commissioner for Employment in the state and leader of the PDP in Engenni, Ahoada West LGA, Agni Ezekiel, condemned the lawmaker’s arrest, saying failure to release their kinsman the people of Engenni where he hails from, the people of Ahaoda West as a whole will take to the streets.
“The people of Engenni in Ahoada West LGA are not happy with what is happening now. Engenni is a very peaceful place, despite all the resources that we have in Engenni land and Ahoada West also. We are begging President Bola Tinubu to ensure the release of our son, Hon. Sokari Goodboy. We are giving the former Rivers State Governor 24-hours to release our son.
“If they don’t release him, we the people of Ahoada West, especially the Engenni people will take to the streets and tell Nigerians that we have something in Engenni. So please, let the former governor release our son”.
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