The Bayelsa State Government and NEW Associates, a group loyal to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike, are trading blame following gunshots that disrupted a rally organised to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.
The rally, held on Saturday at the Church of God Mission Camp Ground in Igbogene, Yenagoa, went ahead despite warnings from the state government, which had earlier opposed the event due to political tensions in neighbouring Rivers State.
Governor Douye Diri had insisted the rally should not hold, citing the crisis involving Wike and Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who was recently suspended after President Tinubu declared a state of emergency.
Following the violence, Secretary of NEW Associates, Ebilade Ekerefe, accused the Bayelsa State Government of orchestrating the attack. Addressing supporters at the rally, Ekerefe said:
“They said the rally would not hold. Yet it held.”
In response, the Bayelsa government condemned the incident and called for an investigation by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun. Commissioner for Information, Orientation, and Strategy, Mrs. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, issued a statement expressing the state’s concern and reaffirmed the validity of its earlier warnings against the event. The government urged security agencies to apprehend those responsible for the shooting.
The rally, convened by George Turnah, a close ally of Wike, was initially set for April 12 but was postponed due to scheduling conflicts with rallies organised by groups loyal to Governor Diri and former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal. These rival events were also moved to April 26, clashing with the NEW Associates’ new rally date.
While the pro-Wike rally went on at Igbogene, security was tightened at the Tombia Roundabout, originally the venue for the Diri and Tambuwal rallies, which were eventually not held.
The Bayelsa government pointed out that some organisers of the pro-Wike rally had previously made troubling comments, noting that “the good, the bad, and the ugly” would attend. They questioned why an event meant to be peaceful ended in violence and injuries, calling on the police for an immediate probe.
The government also criticised the rally for violating the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, stressing that hosting a political event at a religious venue was inappropriate. Authorities warned political groups to avoid involving religious organisations in partisan politics and threatened sanctions against any religious body found flouting the law.
Despite the backlash, Ekerefe doubled down, alleging that the state government attempted to sabotage the rally by threatening to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) of any venue that agreed to host the event.
He said, “They threatened to also organise counter rallies to sabotage that of the New Associates, yet the noisemakers couldn’t. They tried to deny us venues and threatened to revoke CofOs of anybody who would give us their facilities to organise our rally, but we finally got somewhere in a remote environment in the outskirts of Yenagoa to organise our rally.
“They used propaganda to demoralise people from coming to the rally, they held meetings with various youth leaders and groups that they abandoned before now to dissuade them from attending our rally and spent so much resources in doing so. But just like the Israelites, the ardent NEW associates members and their teaming supporters defied all the odds and congregated massively in the adventurous venue to participate in the rally. They came as expected to shoot at us to create panic and pandemonium for the rally not to take place, but they failed woefully.”
Ekerefe praised the resilience of supporters and the security forces, maintaining that the rally’s success should not be judged by crowd size but by the determination shown by attendees. He reiterated that the event demonstrated the growing strength of the pro-Wike and their commitment to President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
