A Saturday rally in Bayelsa State to drum up support for President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, was held successfully despite gunmen’s attempt to disrupt it.
Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State earlier banned the rally, saying he did not want the political crisis in the neighbouring Rivers State to extend to Bayelsa.
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Two Bayelsa-based journalists who covered the rally told PREMIUM TIMES that gunmen emerged from the nearby bushes and fired gunshots at the event venue, the Church of God Mission Camp Ground, Igbogene.
“The rally wasn’t disrupted completely, just for a few minutes. They (the organisers and the participants) later regrouped,” one of the journalists, who does not want his name mentioned in this report for safety reasons, told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.
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“What happened is that in the morning, Wike’s supporters arrived at the venue (of the rally) in numbers. As they were playing music and trying to settle down, gunmen emerged and began to shoot. People scampered for safety. Some people were injured.”
The police operatives and those of Nigeria’s secret police, SSS, at the venue repelled the gunmen, who ran away into the bushes, the journalist said.
Another journalist corroborated the report and said the rally organisers rushed the injured to the hospital for treatment. At the same time, soldiers from the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe, were deployed to strengthen security at the venue so the rally could continue.
Rally participants condemn shooting
Participants at the rally condemned the attempt to disrupt it and pledged their political support for Messrs Tinubu and Wike.
A political group called the NEW Associates organised the rally.
Ebilade Ekerefe, the group’s secretary and former spokesperson for the Ijaw Youth Council, accused supporters of the PDP-led government in Bayelsa of being behind the attack.
Mr Ekerefe said no intimidation would force the group to withdraw its support for President Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
“How will somebody go after law-abiding citizens of Nigeria, particularly Ijaw youths, who have gathered to associate politically? We are not here to cause trouble but to express our support and solidarity with the President,” he said.
Pabara Igwele, a former commissioner for health under Governor Diri, expressed sadness over the attempt to disrupt the rally.
The lead convener of the NEW Associates, George Turnah, also condemned the attempt to disrupt the rally.
He said Mr Diri has benefited from Mr Tinubu more than any other governor in the South-south, and yet the Bayelsa governor was “ungrateful” to the president.
PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify Mr Turnah’s claims.
Mr Turnah, who is also the South-South zonal secretary of the PDP and the caretaker committee chairperson of the party in Bayelsa, challenged Governor Diri to make public his stance on the 2027 presidential election.
He listed the Ijaw indigenes appointed by President Tinubu to include the Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, NDDC Managing Director, Samuel Ogbuku, Head of Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Emomotimi Agama, and Managing Director of the Niger Delta River Basin Authority, Ebitimi Amgbare.
Mr Turnah described Mr Wike as a friend of the Ijaw nation who has facilitated the appointments of Ijaw people into positions of authority.
Thompson Sekibo, a former senator who represented Rowland Sekibo, chaired the rally. The former senator condemned the attack by gunmen and urged the people to be steadfast in their support for President Tinubu and Mr. Wike.
“As an Ijaw man, I have not seen another person who has done much for the Ijaw people than Nyesom Wike, especially for those of us from Rivers State, the Rivers Ijaw. Gratefulness is a virtue, and that is what we have come here to express.
“We have gathered to celebrate President Bola Tinubu and our leader, Chief Nyesom Wike, for the love they have shown to Ijaw people with the appointments of Ijaw sons and daughters to positions of authority,” Mr Sekibo said.
Bayelsa government speaks
The Bayelsa State Government has asked the inspector-general of police to investigate and unravel those behind the shooting at the rally venue.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, the government expressed concern that the shooting was not a coincidence as the organisers had earlier threatened that “the good, the bad and the ugly” would attend the event.
Our reporter contacted Mr Diri’s spokesperson, Daniel Alabrah, and asked for his reaction to Mr Turnah’s remark that the governor is a beneficiary of Mr Tinubu’s “magnanimity.”
“Turnah did not explain to us what he meant by the governor being a beneficiary of the president’s magnanimity.
“From my understanding, what he was referring to was that the president ensured that there was a level playing field during the governorship election in 2023,” Mr Alabrah said.
“So, is that something that any right-thinking person would call magnanimity? Is it not an indictment of our democracy? If you say the governor has benefited from the president’s magnanimity, which means the president could have influenced the election against the governor despite the fact that Bayelsans voted for him?”
Background
Mr Wike and his successor as Rivers governor, Siminalayi Fubara, have been at loggerheads for over a year, leading to a political impasse that led President Bola Tinubu to impose a state of emergency in Rivers. The president also suspended the governor, his deputy, and the Rivers House of Assembly for six months and appointed a sole administrator to govern the state.
Messrs Wike, Fubara and Diri are officially members of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the PDP, although Mr Wike currently serves in the APC administration and is believed by many PDP members to be sabotaging the party.
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