THE Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) Abiye Sekibo reportedly escaped assassination on Thursday, February 9.
It was gathered that unidentified gunmen, dressed in police uniform, opened fire on Sekibo’s vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser bulletproof jeep, at the Rainbow Town in Port Harcourt, where he went to inspect the venue ahead of a PDP presidential campaign rally in the state.
Sekibo, while confirming the incident, said his car was riddled with bullets. He added that the venue of the planned rally was set on fire while policemen watched the inferno.
He also linked Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike to the alleged assassination attempt.
“As we approached the site, those policemen who were watching the fire opened fire on our vehicle. I looked at the Hilux vehicles; they were Police Hilux vehicles attached to the Governor of Rivers State,” he said.
The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has been at loggerheads with Wike since the party’s presidential primary in May 2022, where Atiku emerged as the winner.
In October 2022, the crisis in the party deepened after Wike declared that the state chapter of the party would not campaign for Atiku ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Wike also accused Atiku of excluding him from the party’s presidential campaign council.
In November, the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) in Rivers State demanded a probe into an alleged attack on Atiku’s supporters in the state.
Spokesman of the PCC in Rivers State, Leloonu Nwibubasa, condemned the attack and called on the police to immediately commence an investigation to arrest those behind the incident.
In November, some of Atiku’s supporters were reportedly attacked in Omuma Local Government Area (LGA).
Also, in December 2022, the Rivers State government warned the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation against disobeying a court order which sealed its campaign office in Port Harcourt.
The ICIR had reported how Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, shut down the Atiku/Okowa campaign office in Port Harcourt barely two months before the 2023 polls using Executive Orders 21 and 22.
The Rivers State governor has consistently demanded the resignation of PDP National Chairman, Iyochia Ayu, as the only solution to his differences with Atiku.
A reporter with the ICIR
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