Reports from credible sources say Abia State may likely explode into uncontrollable violence if tensions arising from the ongoing Ward Congresses of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which already appear hijacked by an army of thugs from Bayelsa State said to be acting on the orders of former Governor of the State and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, are not brought under control.
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Information available to media sources indicate that the APC Saturday Ward Congresses are already marred by this deluge of thugs unleashed on the innocent people of Abia State by the former Bayelsa State Governor to aid the emergence of candidates of Chief Ikechi Emenike as leaders of the APC at the Ward level and enhance his( Sylva’s) chances at winning APC’s ticket for President.
The unknown gun men, who stormed Abia State last night in Commando-like fashion from neighbouring Rivers State where they were said to have initially been camped for over a week before embarking on the ignominious trip to their final destination, are said to be camping in two discreetly located hotels in Umuahia.
The hotels, which investigations also reveal, are CDDFON Hotel
and RiXos Intercontinental Hotel, are said to have been bubbling with activities and receiving all manner of visitors in the last twenty-four hours. It is further gathered that despite the unconcealed appearances of these thugs, whose mission is anything but genuine and whose mien gives away as marchants of mischief and terror, the security agencies and other apparatuses of Government in the State, in what appears to be a tacit collusion among certain powerful individuals and forces in the place, have continued to watch all the sad events unfolding across the State without any action, thereby, leaving Abians to wallow in harrowing anguish and fear.
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While trying to reach some of the leaders of the APC in the State, including the Senate Chief Whip, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, and the Minister of State for Mines and Still Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, repeated calls to their known telephone lines and those of their Aides were neither answered nor returned. We, however, spoke to several members of the Party in the State, who in anonymity, condemned the Importation of thugs from another State by Chief Ikechi Emenike, whose interest in the process they questioned, especially, as they argued that the tenure of Abia South Senatorial Zone in the Abia Government House is now ending and it is not envisaged that anyone from his Zone, Abia Central which handed power to the Abia South, should demonstrate desire for Abia Governorship at this time again.
While calling for the condemnation of a process, which they said had been marred from the starting-line, they argued that the nothing strong can sit on a weak foundation. To us, however, Nigerians are watching how the ruling Party, which prides itself on its mission of order, discipline and corruption-fighting initiatives, will be able to straighten a process that had seen myriads of criticism and condemnation before it commenced.
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In the words of one of the respondents of the Party in Abia State, who does not wish to be named:
“All that is happening in our Party in Abia and, I guess in several other places, is a call on the leadership of the Party and the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the real leader of the Party, to cancel the ongoing fraud in Abia and also caution the Honorable Minister of State, Ministry of Petroleum as the Ministry cars are used openly today in Abia to convey the unknown gunmen to Umuahia and still parading around town. This is a gross abuse of Office and official privileges by His Excellency, Timi Sylva, who has come into APC with his PDP mindset and style”, the Party stalwart concluded.
