Bomb explosion rocks APC Secretariat in Okrika, Rivers state

Fears of political violence in Rivers State as the elections approach are increasingly becoming real as unknown persons on Sunday threw objects suspected to be dynamite into the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretariat in Abam-Ama, Okrika.

Sources said the incident took place about 3.14a.m., adding that although no life was lost, the secretariat was extensively damaged.

The Chairman of the Okrika Local Government Area chapter of the APC, Christian Asifamaka, said in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday that his office was the worst hit in the attack.

He blamed the attack on the members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whom he said wanted to drag the APC into violent confrontation.

“The APC in Okrika views this latest attack as a deliberate provocation by our opponents, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to draw the APC into a battle that would destabilise our beloved local government area. This is unfortunate and the APC in Okrika would not allow Okrika to become a hotbed of crises as the PDP would wish,” he said.

He noted that Okrika had always been the worst hit in times of politics adding that the APC had resolved to toe the path of peace in the coming elections.

“Our local government area has always been the worst hit in times of politics. Our young children are the ones they use as cannon fodder. We know this and as a party have resolved to toe only the path of peace in the interest of our land and our children,” he said.

In a veiled reference to the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, Asifamaka said: “We beg our daughter to remember that the land of Okrika has never spared any Okrika person who brings trouble to the land. We beg her to please call her people in the PDP to order because Okirika is bigger than anyone of us and we should not destroy it.”

Credit: Ernest Chinwo/ThisDay