The Rivers State Government has shut the campaign head office of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in Port Harcourt early hours of Friday.

Rivers State PDP Presidential Campaign Council said the closure was based on the orders of the Rivers State Government. He did not give further explanation.

Governor Nyesom Wike had few weeks ago signed Executive Order 22 which restricted political parties and their candidates from siting political campaign offices in residential areas without government approval.

However, the media team of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council in the state said it had applied for approval from the state government but has not received any feedback for several weeks.

It condemned the closure of the campaign office “because it rubs off on our fundamental right to free expression of interest.”

“This egregious move by the Rivers State Government, seen in the prism of politics, tends to militarise our democracy and renders our dear state politically recessive when juxtaposed with other states in the country,” the Rivers PDP PCC added.

Wike had been at loggerheads with the top echelon of the PDP, his party, and has openly flirted with other political parties.

Wike had aligned with four other PDP governors, now known as G5, to insist of the sacking of PDP Chairman Iyorcha Ayu and installation of a southerner in his place.