Senator Ahmed Makarfi has described the violence that resulted in the postponement of the House of Assembly by-election in Rivers state unfortunate.
The condemnation is contained in a statement by an Aide to Makarfi, Mukhtar Zubairu Sirajo issued Monday.
“The abortion of the by election for the Port Harcourt 3 seat of the Rivers State House of Assembly is yet another unfortunate evidence of the impunity and brazen disregard and violation of the laws of the country by elements of the current ruling party, unfortunately, with no consequence.
“It disturbs Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi to no end that an election into a single constituency for which INEC had made adequate preparations and for which voters were ready, could fail to hold simply because some men of the moment, using their influence, deployed thugs to violently disrupt the exercise, knowing that their party was going to lose. Sadder still is the fact that these thugs operated openly, given cover by armed security agents who were supposed to protect the people,” it read.
According to Makarfi, “this type of state sanctioned criminality can lead this country in only one direction and irredeemable damage to or even truncation of the democracy that Nigeria paid enormous price to bring about.
“The unfortunate event of last Saturday, was a part vindication of the complaint of Senator Makarfi recently in Port Harcourt to the effect that the Rivers State government, and particularly Governor Nyesom Wike were continuously and consistently being targeted for intimidation and blackmail by the central government, using agencies of state that are paid and supposed to protect the people.
“More intriguing is the fact that the chief orchestrator and perpetrator of this dance of shame is very well known, and in fact makes no attempt to hide; yet nothing is done by those in authority to call them to order. Senator Makarfi believes that Nigeria is no banana republic and should therefore not allow a situation in which some people are beyond reproach. He thus believes that President Muhammadu Buhari owes this country a duty to, not only call masterminds of this shameful act to order but also ensure that they are subjected to the full rigors of the law to answer for their crimes,” the statement further read.
Makarfi commiserated with the government and people of Rivers State over what he described as “wanton assault and primitive abuse of privilege” and urged Wike to remain resolute and focused on delivering democracy dividends to the people, in the face of this unnecessary distraction.
The Senator equally reiterated his call for the restructuring of our public institutions, especially security agencies to make them answerable to the state rather than the whims and caprices of the controllers of the political levers.
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