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The Secretariat of the Chief Tony Okocha faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has been rocked by an explosion suspected to be dynamite.
The incident occurred early morning on Saturday, October 5, 2024, as residents prepared to hit the poll for the local government elections.
The secretariat, located along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, was covered in flames with its gate and the doors shattered by the explosion.
“About 3:20 am some gun-trotting young men with their explosives and all that, came here and dropped the first explosive, maybe because the one they dropped here did not detonate, they came back the second time to burn the structure – look at the security house is gone.
“Behind me, you will see that there was also an attempt, our people came and we were able to quench the fire,” Okocha confirmed the incident to Channels TV in an interview.
The embattled APC chairman alleged that the incident was politically motivated, pointing accusing fingers at Governor Siminalyi Fubara, whom he said had earlier declared war over the local government elections.
“Is the APC secretariat here any voting unit? There is no voting unit here. So, it was deliberate to see how they can annihilate us, it is deliberate to see how they can embarrass us, it is deliberate to see how they can decimate us,” he added.
The police have yet to comment on the incident as of the time of this report.
Rivers LG elections go ahead as scheduled
Meanwhile, despite the controversy surrounding the local government polls, the exercise got underway in all 23 councils in the oil-rich state.
Accreditation and voting commenced early in many polling centres around Port Harcourt City.
Recall police authorities had vowed not to provide security for the exercise, citing a Federal High Court judgement that bars it from participating in the process.
Regardless, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) said late Friday that the election will be held as scheduled.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we emphasise unequivocally that the 5th October 2024 Local Government Council Elections in Rivers State will be held as scheduled, and there is no going back,” RSIEC said in a statement by its Commissioner for Civil Education/Public Affairs Tobin Tamunotonye.