A faction of the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Chief Godspower Umejuru Ake said on Tuesday that the torching of court records at a State High Court at Okehi, Etche Local Government by suspected arsonists, will not hinder the expected ruling on January 15 by the Appeal Court in Abuja on the disputed leadership of the PDP in the state.
The faction asserted that except the arsonists also burn the Appeal Court records, the fate of Messrs Felix Obuah and Ibibia Walter who are parading themselves as Chairman and Secretary, respectively, in stolen mandate, would be decided.
In a statement signed by the faction’s Publicity Secretary, George Ukwuoma-Nwogba, in Port Harcourt, the Ake-faction of the PDP described as unfortunate the resort to destruction of judicial evidence by those it said are jittery at the reality of the tide of proofs against their falsehood and forgery.
“Afraid that justice would soon slap them in the face over their treacherous, deceitful and false claims to the offices of the Chairman and Secretary of the PDP in Rivers State, Obuah and his cohort, with age-long penchant to violence, lies and brigandage, resorted to their latest option just to hold on to power no matter how illegitimate.”
“We would prefer they allowed the Appeal Court decide their fate rather than engage in self-help of this magnitude, obviously couched in shame and opprobrium,” the statement said.
The Ake faction, however, said its members were not surprised Obuah and his followers would descend so low in their search to evade justice, questioning the basis for their fear when after all, they had claimed the party delegates had elected them into the respective offices they allegedly stole by deceiving an Abuja High Court.
“We wonder at their fear when they had claimed in the High Court that they were duly elected Chairman and Secretary by party delegates to the State Congress held on March 17, 2013,” the PDP queried, adding that lies may endure for a day, but truth lives forever.
While urging the party faithful to continue in prayer for the total restoration of the mandate freely given to Ake and Adokiye Oruwari as Rivers State PDP Chairman and Secretary, respectively, by the party delegates on March 17, 2012, the statement further called for vigilance on their part “as enemies of democracy may not rest from their desperado mission.”
The statement said: “We call on party faithful to remain vigilant and prayerful as enemies of democracy and Rivers State may not rest in their desperado mission. But we trust in the power of the living God to give us the victory.”
