The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) this evening expressed shock over the attack on the party’s Secretariat in Yenagoa, capital of neighboring Bayelsa State. News of the attack, in which the state government has been implicated, was broken earlier today by News Express.

In a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers APC under the leadership of the Interim State Chairman, Chief (Dr.) Davies Ibiamu Ikanya lamented that “barely 24 hours after the APC State Secretariat was opened, the PDP-led government in the state sent plain-cloth police men to remove the bill board and the flags of the party and also threaten to bomb the State Secretariat if the APC leadership fails to stop operating in the state.”

He said that Rivers APC “unequivocally condemns this affront on our fledgling democracy by the dictatorial Seriake Dickson Administration which has become jittery due to the exodus of Bayelsa PDP members to APC,” adding: “This is a sad and very unfortunate development which should not be associated with any decent administration. We, however, wish to warn the PDP that the barbarism associated with the party will not deter APC from sacking the visionless PDP-led Government in Bayelsa as well as at the Federal level.”

Continuing, the statement said: “We appreciate the fears of PDP in Bayelsa seeing the unshakable resolve of Bayelsa people to reject both Governor Dickson and President Goodluck Jonathan come 2015, having seen that the State has not meaningfully benefited from their governments. Even so, we advise Governor Dickson to learn the virtues of tolerance and to tread softly as Bayelsa belongs to people of all political leanings irrespective of who presently occupies the Government House in Yenagoa.

“We commiserate with our brothers and sisters in Bayelsa and advise them to remain steadfast for the powers of darkness are temporary. We at the same time appeal to the police to desist from being used by desperate politicians to circumscribe democratic rights acts in Bayelsa State.”

•Photo shows Rivers APC Interim Chairman, Ikanya.