RSG Condemns Arrest Of PDP, Govt Officials

The Rivers State Government Saturday  demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the Secretary to the State Government, Kenneth Kobani, allegedly arrested  at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) RAC, Kpor, headquarters of Gokana Local Government Area by men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) detailed on election duty.
The government  also demanded the release, without further delay, of the Special Adviser to the State Governor on Special Projects, Cyril Dum Wite, arrested by the JTF on Saturday at the INEC’s RAC in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area.
A statement issued yesterday and signed by the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, explained that both Kobani and Wite were arrested and detained on election day by men of the Nigerian military simply because they were members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
According to him, “their fate is the same with thousands of PDP supporters who were brutalized, arrested, shot at, and even killed by the military and thugs of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the state’s rerun elections on Saturday.
Tam-George regretted that as “in many reported instances, the role of the military in the inconclusive elections has been shameful, embarrassing, and a kick in the face of constitutional democracy.
“The military were indistinguishable from the rag tag thugs of the APC, under the direct command of the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Dr Dakuku Adol Peterside, Senator Magnus Abe, and others.
“Kenneth Kobani has been chained to a chair overnight, and denied his medication, despite his failing health,” Tam-George lamented.
The statement “strongly” condemned the dehumanizing treatment, and called for “the release of all those detained” by the military and security agencies in the heat of the tensed rerun elections in the state.
Meanwhile, report reaching our news desk at the time of going to press indicated that both Kobani and the Rivers State Commissioner for Water Resources, Chief Ibibia Walter, who was abducted by unidentified gunmen on Saturday during the rerun elections in the State have been freed .
Walter, who is also the Secretary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, spoke to journalists, yesterday, and confirmed that he has been freed by his abductors.
It would be recalled that the commissioner’s vehicle was ambushed as he was on his way to Okrika to vote in the rerun elections.
Some of his abductors, who were masked, whisked him away to an undisclosed location thereby preventing him from casting his vote in the election.
After Walter was freed by his abductors he was able to communicate with a police team that rescued him.
There has been jubilation in his camp following the news of his release.
It is not clear if ransom was paid before he was set free.