Rivers PDP’s rally on day of mourning, insensitive, says APC

By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State has berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for holding a political rally on the day a former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Attahiru Ibrahim and other victims of the Kaduna plane crash were buried.

The party, in a statement by its spokesperson, Ogbonna Nwuke, expressed serious reservations over the decision of the PDP to go ahead with a rally it scheduled on Saturday to receive defectors despite the national mourning mood.

The APC said that another decision by the PDP to televise such an event was an act of great disrespect for the nation’s fallen heroes who were buried on Saturday.

Nwuke said: “The APC would have overlooked the charade, which took place in the Rivers capital; an event which was broadcast on television; if the Wike administration did not create the impression, through a senseless jamboree, that the Rivers people are insensitive.

“We are truly shocked that Governor Nyesom Wike, a Head of Government, who is a prime beneficiary of the effort that members of the Armed Forces are making to keep him and the good people of Rivers State safe, could go ahead with a pre-planned reception intended to receive a handful of ‘bread and butter politicians.

“Across the country, events planned for the weekend were shifted in order to enable Nigerians pay their last respect to our fallen heroes who died in an air crash in Kaduna.

“While the nation mourned the death of its officers, Wike and his colleagues in Rivers State took to the rostrum to show that politics is more important reflection than appreciating the grief of heartbroken Nigerians.

“We believe that the action of Governor Wike and the PDP was rather callous, undesirable and painful. The APC expresses its condolences at this time to the families of our fallen heroes who died on the line of duty. We stand with the Nigerian people, more especially with the families of the bereaved”.

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Commenting on some of the defectors, Nwuke said: “We only have pity for Chief Davies Ikanya and Igo Aguma. While Aguma, an imposter, was never a chairman of the APC, Ikanya who claims to be the only elected chairman of the party is a mere laughable character.

“Governor Wike has once described Chief Ikanya as a person who is more interested in the colour of his skin. Our discovery of his inability to lead a robust party such as the APC; our discovery of the underhand game he was playing with the PDP all through his tenure; was responsible for a mass uprising against his leadership.

“All said we do not imagine that responding to the rubbish spewed by these men on a day that the Nigerian people were mourning their dead is worth our while. We nonetheless wish them well in their future endeavours as members of a party that is collapsing by the day”.