The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State this evening vowed to defy an alleged police ban and proceed with its membership drive as well as registration exercise billed to commence this Friday.

“It has been brought to our notice that the Rivers Police Command has issued a directive banning any form of rallies or political gatherings in Rivers State with effect from today. We regard this not only as an act of illegality but also as an abuse of the inalienable right of the people of Rivers State to freely associate as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. More importantly, we regard this as a direct declaration of war on the long-suffering people of Rivers State,” Rivers APC said in a statement issued in the state capital, Port Harcourt.

The party in the statement signed by Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, Senior Media Aide to the Interim State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ikanya, said: “We are aware that this satanic directive is aimed at disrupting our membership drive and registration of our teeming loyalists scheduled to start this Wednesday, the 5th of February, 2014. This draconian and unwarranted directive at this period is clearly targeted at frustrating us after we have already trained our Registration Officers and mobilised materials in this regard to all the awards in Rivers State. This latest act of impunity by the Rivers State Police Command under the watch of CP Mbu Joseph Mbu designed to sabotage our membership drive will however fail as it lacks the power to stop this nationwide exercise from being carried out in Rivers State.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Rivers State is still an integral part of Nigeria and subject to Nigerian laws, including the one that guarantees the people’s right to freedom of association. We have already directed our lawyers to challenge this evil and devilish order in the court and further directed our Registration Officers to commence this exercise as scheduled by the 5th March, 2014.

“Finally, if the intention of the Rivers State Command is to use this as a ploy to disrupt our planned registration then it is an exercise in futility as we will be left with no alternative than to challenge it formally in the law court. But if not we will do everything to support such a ban.

In conclusion, we thank the good people of Rivers State for their wise decision to massively join the All Progressives Congress (APC) so as to ensure that we collectively bury the doomed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that lacks vision and the capacity to move Nigeria forward.”

•Photo shows Rivers APC Interim Chairman, Ikanya.

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