On Monday morning, suspected political thugs allegedly stormed and demolished the Social Democratic Party’s secretariat in Nonwa, Tai Local Government Area, Rivers State.
According to reports, prior to the event, Senator Magnus Abe, a state SDP contender for Governor in the 2023 elections, was supposed to inaugurate the secretariat.
Abe, a former senator and National Assembly delegate for the Rivers South-East region, has accused the state’s governing Peoples Democratic Party of orchestrating a string of attacks against his party.
A source in the neighborhood claimed that on Monday at around 6:30 am, a group of young people armed with axes and machetes assaulted the building and began tearing it down.
The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Ealy Monday, some of our people were still sleeping when we started hearing shouts.
“Reports came that they destroyed Senator Magnus Abe’s secretariat. We went there and saw that it was true. The whole building was destroyed.”
While acknowledging the incident, Senator Abe said in a statement that it wouldn’t stop him from continuing with his campaigns despite the attack and other threats to his life and property.
Parry Benson, Abe’s spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday afternoon that Abe was committed to fulfilling his goal of becoming the state Governor in 2023.
The statement partly read, “The SDP secretariat in Nonwa Tai, Tai LGA, due for inauguration today – Monday, December 26, 2022, was destroyed in the early hours of today by suspected political thugs.”
Abe urged the state’s chief of police to launch an investigation into the incident and put an end to the rising violence in the state.
Grace Iringe-Koko, a spokesman for the state Police Command, agreed to inquire with the local police division
Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, has not responded as at the time of this report.
A meeting location for the SDP was similarly attacked and briefly damaged by suspected political thugs two months ago in Oyigbo LGA.
Once they had done it, the armed youths moved to block Senator Abe’s supporters from entering the area.
