At least eight loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State were shot today as the party’s nationwide membership registration exercise entered day two, a statement from the office of the Interim State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, has said.

The statement signed by Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze and issued in Port Harcourt, said: “In Ward 6 in Woji, the area where Chief Timothy Nsirim is the Chief Executor of the war against APC, one Eric Nyekazi Chioma led the operation with 30 other thugs, shooting and chasing out our people and shooting one of our key supporters, Chibuchi Ogbonda, who is now battling for life at DATTA Clinic, Port Harcourt. Woji Ward comprises five big communities of Woji, Rumurolu, Rumuibekwe, Oginigba and Rumuogba.

“The same scenario played itself out in Ogubolo and several other parts of the state but worst hit is Degema, where one Andy was shot dead while six other APC members were inflicted with bullet wounds and are currently hospitalized at BMH in Port Harcourt.

“Yesterday our Degema LGA Supervisory Committee Chairman for the Registration Exercise and former Chairman Rivers State Civil Service Commission, Mr. Ben Orugbani, escaped death when his house was shattered with bullets in the old Bakana.

“In addition, we have it on good authority that some of our top leaders, among them the Interim State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, and Chief of Staff to the Governor, Chief Tony Okocha among others, have been slated for elimination.”

According to Eze, “In PHALGA Wards 11, 14 and 16 one Vandam and one Noso led 50 other hoodlums to shoot sporadically and hijack the registration materials, handsets and cameras of APC registration officials.

“In Ward 9 in Obio/Akpor, the ward of Chief Nyesom Wike, the Supervising Minister of Education, hired thugs disrupted the registration exercise, beat up APC Registration Officers and hijacked registration materials.”

The statement blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State and the Grassroot Development Initiative (GDI), the political machinery of PDP chieftain/Supervising Minister for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, for the violence.

“We wish to once more warn Barrister Wike and PDP leaders in Rivers State to stop this madness henceforth as the consequences could be grave. We also hereby cry out to the new State Commissioner of Police, CP Johnson Ogunsakin, to step in and decisively bring an end to this madness. While we understand PDP’s frustration at being roundly rejected by the people of Rivers State, this is surely not an excuse to plunge the state into chaos and rob the people of their constitutionally-guaranteed right to freedom of political association,” the statement said.

•Photo shows Wike, who is being blamed for the violence by Rivers APC.