RIVERS State Government has raised the alarm over a plot by some ‘Abuja forces’ to storm the premises of Obio-Akpor Local Government with armed thugs to cause mayhem, as a prelude to the declaration of a state of emergency.
A statement by Chairman, Obio- Akpor Executive Caretaker Committee, Chikaodi Dike, reads:
“On Friday, May 3, 2013, our Council Secretariat in Romuodomaya was taken over by strange policemen who claim to have orders from above (the Rivers State Commissioner of Police and Police Inspector-General) for me and the members of the legally constituted, constitutionally recognised Caretaker Committee of the Obio-Akpor Local Government Council in Rivers State to vacate the council premises immediately.
“When we refused to leave and then cried out that the police cannot sack a legally-constituted Council Executive Committee without any legal instrument, the police quickly changed their story that they barricaded the Council Secretariat and chased us out because they want to forestall a breakdown of law and order in the council offices.
“We can now authoritatively reveal to Rivers people that the same Abuja forces who orchestrated the barricading of our Council premises by the police are planning to storm the same Council offices on Monday, May 6, 2013 with different shades of hoodlums and miscreants and then unleash violence and mayhem on the good people of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area. Their plan is to start from outside the council secretariat.
“This plot is being championed by a former Council Chairman who is a known acolyte of the Abuja forces that have sworn to make Obio-Akpor and, by extension, Rivers State ungovernable as a prelude to the declaration of STATE OF EMERGENCY.
“We urge the people of Obio-Akpor to remain calm and law-abiding. Good will always triumph over evil”.
