Ban on Unapproved Political Rallies: Wike out to crush opposition, says APC

The governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Arch. Tonye Cole, has berated the Executive Order 21 signed into law by Governor Nyesom Wike.

Daily Trust had reported how Wike signed the order banning unapproved Political rallies from all public facilities in the state.

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In a press statement issued in Port Harcourt at the weekend by his Campaign Organization, Cole said the Order 21 is part of the plot by the governor to stifle competition from other political parties.

Cole said the Executive Order is another manifestation of the governor’s penchant to crush and suppress opposition in a multiparty democracy instead of allowing citizens exercise their freedom of choice as enshrined in the Constitution.

“Governor Wike has consistently shown that even as a life bencher, he has no issues with abusing his powers without any regards for the law or the constitution he swore to protect. His actions bring the exalted office of the governor of Rivers State to disrepute and embarrasses our people in the committee of nations.”

“It is highly unfortunate and disheartening that while the rest of the nation under President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership is opening up the electoral space for the free and fair participation of everybody regardless of political, religious or tribal inclinations, the despot in Rivers State is refusing to embrace change and attempting to take us back to the mud-era where only political pigs can swim

“We will want to educate Governor Wike that as governor of Rivers State and with the oath he took not to allow his personal interest, whether political or otherwise, to Influence his official conduct or decisions, and that he will be answerable to that same constitution when his garb of immunity will be taken away from him in only a few months from now. May we also remind him that under President Buhari’s Government, political parties in Rivers State will conduct their rallies peacefully and without provocation, but should he push them to the wall, he will be reminded of how he forced his way into Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in 2015.

“For the records, we want to state without equivocation, that this law by the governor is not only obnoxious but the desperate acts of a coward, who is permanently at war with democracy, made with the aim of oppressing and silencing opposition parties in the state. We are therefore calling on all men of goodwill and Rivers people- wherever they may be, to condemn this tyrannical effusions of a despot with a morbid fear of life out of power.

“The Chairmen of the 23 Local Government Councils in the State who have been directed by the Governor to enforce his punitive and draconian directive under Executive Order 21 are hereby put on notice that the All Progressives Congress shall campaign with our candidates across the length and breadth of Rivers State as provided under the Constitution and as prescribed by law.

“We will neither succumb to intimidation nor accept the presentation of a fait accompli by Executive Order 21 to political parties other than the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on which platform they and the Governor were elected in the first place. We draw the attention of those to whom it may concern that the enforcement of that Order howsoever by the Council Chairmen would amount to a brazen affront on our constitutional rights as political parties and a campaign organization. We urge them to resist the lure of exercise of power that can only result in anarchy from the resistance of the parties and candidates targeted by the obnoxious Executive Order 21,” the statement read.