5:T7d8,

The condition of Senator Magnus Abe, who was shot this morning during an All Progressives Congress (APC) rally organised by the Save Rivers Movement at the College of Arts and Science, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, the state capital, is critical, according to state chapter of APC.

According to a senior state APC official who spoke with News Express, trouble started when “trigger-happy policemen stormed the APC rally and started shooting rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse the crowd.”

The source said that “one of the rubber bullets hit Senator Abe, who fell to the ground and would have died instantly if his aides had not quickly grabbed him and rushed him to a hospital in D/Line. It is reported that the case of the Senator is very critical and arrangement is being made by Governor Amaechi to fly him out for medical attention if he recovers from coma.”

As previously reported by News Express, the Chief of Staff to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Sir Tony Okocha, was also shot by the police in their efforts to stop the rally. News Express learnt that Sir Okocha was shot on his legs. “He may be crippled if urgent attention is not given to him,” a source in Port Harcourt said.

The incident comes barely one week after the bombing, last Monday, of the High Court in Ahoada and razing of the High Chief Magistrate’s Court in Okehi, both in Rivers State – acts which the Nigerian bar Association has attributed to politics and given the federal government one month to probe.

The political atmosphere in Rivers State has been charged for several months as a result of the quarrel between Governor Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife patience. The situation worsened following the defection, last November 26, of Amaechi and his loyalists from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC.

•Photo shows Senator Magnus Abe.

Update news