TAN’s rally for Jonathan is firing squad –Rivers groups
The Rivers State
Chapter of All Progressive Congress (APC) and Ikwerre Citizens for
Democratic Movement (ICDM) have declared their opposition to a
pro-Jonathan rally scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt today.
The Transformation Ambassador of Nigeria
(TAN) a group supporting President Good Luck Jonathan’s re-election bid
in 2015 is billed to hold its South–South rally in the Rivers State
capital.
But the leadership of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and other groups in the state have described
the rally as untimely and an avenue to spread the Ebola virus disease,
following the outbreak in the state.
Reacting in Port Harcourt yesterday,
the State Chairman of APC, Dr. Davies Ikanya, said the rally is nothing
but a firing squad against the people.
He said as a party, the leadership of
the APC in the state was not afraid of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) but was only concerned about the threat it poses to the lives of
residents of the Garden City.
Ikanya said: “The rally is a firing
squad, it is an invitation to death. The same people who said the public
should avoid crowd and that they are committed to the fight against
Ebola is today organising a rally in Rivers State when they are aware of
the outbreak of the disease in the state.
“We are committed and we are not
threatened by their coming. I think the group who said they are going to
protest against the rally by tomorrow has a point.
“The President should be thinking about
how to assist the state government to fight Ebola instead of organising
political rallies.”
The President General of Ikwerre
Citizens for Democratic Movement (ICDM), Comrade Prince Obiajunwo Dike,
said the group had given President Jonathan up till 11 pm yesterday to
call off the rally or see himself as one of the enemies of Rivers
people.
He said the people of Rivers State,
especially the youths, were being mobilised to barricade the Elekahia
Stadium venue of the rally in the interest of Rivers State.
Dike said even the President is aware
that there is an outbreak of Ebola in the state, which he said had
rendered the rally unnecessary in order to prevent further spread of EVD
in the state.
He said he expected the Federal
Government to focus on the pressing needs in the state and not to play
politics with the lives of the people.
He said: “As far as I am concerned,
the rally will not hold in the state. If they go ahead to hold the rally
by tomorrow, then Jonathan hates Rivers people.
“We will mobilise against them. We don’t mind if our action leads to an uproar tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the health
sector in the state have said that the government was yet to provide
safety measures to contain the spread of the EVD in the state.
They expressed fears that some people in
the state who had contracted the decease were yet to be located for
quarantine. ...
He also revealed that two women visited
the late Dr. Ikechukwu Sam Enemuo’s wife and left the widow’s house to a
supermarket at Government House but were yet to be traced.
He said: “The most important thing now
is awareness. There were two women who visited the wife of the deceased,
but nothing has been done about them.
“They ought to have been quarantined or placed on surveillance. Such a big super http://thenationonlineng.net/new/tans-rally-for-jonathan-is-firing-squad-rivers-groups/