Chief Davies Ikanya, All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman in Rivers, has condemned the Saturday attack on the party’ state secretariat, and described the incident as “barbaric and unbelievable”.
Ikanya, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt, shortly after inspecting the destroyed secretariat, said that it was wrong to destroy the state office when congresses were being held at the wards.
The party boss, who resumed work immediately after inspecting the vandalized party office, wondered why the masterminds of the incident opted to behave so crudely.
“From the party’s guidelines, the election is by option A4; there was no need to even come to the secretariat to express frustration.
“If the reason for the vandalism was to cart away election materials, that was very unfortunate because there are no materials for the congress since the party opted for option A4.
“Under option A4, no ballot paper is used; the only material is the result sheet where the result will be entered at the ward, after votes have been counted.
“There was no materials to be snatched in this congress; all that party members need to do is to go and stand behind aspirants of their choice,” he added.
The APC Chairman dismissed allegations that the party had hoarded forms, and explained that some aspirants did not get the forms because there was a shortage.
“The number of people that paid for the forms exceeded the number of forms that were printed. What we did was to ask the aspirants, who paid but did not get the forms, to hold on a little.
“We also declared that aspirants with bank tellers be allowed to contest even without the forms. We made that very clear and assured the aspirants not to panic, but they still decided to act in an uncivilized manner,” he fumed.
“The destruction of the secretariat was an action taken too far; clearly, sponsors of this action are not patriotic,” he said.
Efforts to speak with the Police on the incident proved abortive, but a top Police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that investigation had commenced toward apprehending the thugs that invaded the party office.
