The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress
has declared a week of mourning for nine of its members killed in two separate
incidents in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Saturday night.
While five of the men were
killed in the D-Line area of Port Harcourt, the other four died along the
Eastern By-Pass in the Marine Base area of the state capital.
In a statement by its chairman, Davies Ikanya, on Tuesday,
the APC, which condemned the killing, said its members were targeted in the two
incidents indicates that they were politically-motivated murders aimed at
reducing its membership ahead of the general elections.
The party challenged the law enforcement agencies to rise to the occasion and apprehend and bring the culprits to book.
It said, “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the death of
these innocent men and regard them as martyrs of our nascent democracy. We wish
to assure those they have left behind that these party faithful will be
celebrated and mourned accordingly.
“Their deaths will strengthen us the more to ensure that
evil men are not be allowed to govern our State again.”
The APC said its members in the state will on March 15 pray
for the repose of their souls in their various churches. “We owe them this
honour even as we strive to honour them the more by ensuring that their dream
of landslide victory for our great party in the forthcoming general elections
is realized,” the party said.
The party cautioned the opposition Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, and its supporters to eschew violence as no amount of violence and
intimidation would save it from being disgraced during the March 28 and April
11 elections in the State.
It also asked its sympathizers and the international
community “to constantly remember us in their prayers as both our candidate,
Dakuku Peterside and all APC Chieftains are all targets for elimination by the
newly assembled PDP Killer Squad”.
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