Supporters of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), believed to be loyalists of Rivers State Governor Siminialayi Fubara and Federal Capital Territory Minister Chief Nyesom Wike, battled at the party’s secretariat in Port Harcourt yesterday.
The incident led to gunfire near the PDP Secretariat on the Port Harcourt-Aba Motorway Friday.
While some felt the gunshots were fired by security personnel who had been keeping an eye on the facility following the court’s dismissal of Aaron Chukwuemeka’s party leaders, others said political thugs were responsible.
It was gathered that supporters of the state’s governor, who had been forced out of the office by security after the court victory, attempted to retake the office on Friday morning, when another group claiming to be loyalists of the former governor invaded the location.
Chronicle NG also gathered that there was a serious altercation at the Secretariat, which resulted in multiple gunshots.
Fubara and his predecessor, Wike, have been at loggerheads over the control of the political structure of the state, a development that has polarised the party structure in the state.
While Wike alleges that Fubara has been driven astray by former governor of the state, Peter Odili, Lere Olayinka, Wike’s senior special assistant on public communication and social media, spoke on Wednesday when he featured on Prime Time, a program on Arise TV.
“Fubara is a leader, but leaders have leaders. I am a boy now to somebody, but there are people who are also boys to me. The person that I am a boy to is also a boy to somebody,” he said.
“Fubara is a leader, but Fubara has a leader, and that leader is Nyesom Wike. Fubara has somebody who, on his own, made him governor, and that person is Wike, and that person is his leader,” he stated.
