THE All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State have disagreed on the attack on the residence of a former leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Dr. Chidi Lloyd.
While the APC said the PDP had a hand in the attack, the ruling party in the state (PDP) maintained that Lloyd knew those responsible for the burning of his house and should count its members out of it.
Both political parties also disagreed on revisiting of the 2013 attempted murder case of Lloyd.
Speaking with journalists in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Sunday, the state Chairman of the APC, Dr. Davies Ikanya, said his party viewed the burning of the former lawmaker’s house as the actualisation of the boast by the PDP in the state that it (PDP) would teach the APC a lesson.
Ikanya, who called on the police to investigate the matter, said, “The Attorney-General of Rivers State, Chinwenwo Aguma, SAN, had boasted that since the police had refused to produce Dr. Lloyd, they (the prosecution) would ensure that Lloyd appeared in court to take a plea ‘their own way’ and six hours later, the country home of Lloyd was bombed and razed.
“We have painstakingly drawn this graphic analogy so that it will be clear to the discerning and fair-minded Rivers people and Nigerians who the perpetrators of the arson on Dr. Chidi Lloyd’s country home are.
“The APC views this incident as part of the fulfilment of the boasts by the leaders of the PDP government in Rivers State to teach the APC and their leaders a lesson,” Ikanya said.
He called on the police to “thoroughly investigate” the attack on the ex-lawmaker’s house.
Reacting, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, described the statement credited to Ikanya as falsehood.
Nwanosike alleged that Lloyd was charged to court by the police over an attempt to kill a lawmaker in the state House of Assembly, Michael Chinda.
He said there was nothing wrong in reopening the case against Lloyd on his action in the House of Assembly in 2013.
“On March 4, 2015, the then Attorney General of the state, Worg Boms, exercised his powers under section 211 of the Constitution (1999 Constitution) and entered a nolle prosequi, which simply meant discontinuation of prosecution.
“The current Attorney General of Rivers State has in the exercise of the same constitutional powers by which the nolle prosequi was entered commenced proceedings against Chidi Lloyd.
“What is wrong in the trial of Chidi Lloyd for an attempted murder that the whole world saw him commit?” he queried.
PUNCH
