The Nyesom Wike-led Rivers Government has confirmed that it will no longer release Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for the rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that in the state government in January approved the venue for the event scheduled to hold on February 11.
Commissioner for Sports, Christopher Green formally conveyed the decision of the administration to Governor Aminu Tambuwal who is the Director General of the PDP campaign.
The Sokoto helmsman is the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC).
Green cited alleged plot by the Atiku campaign to share the venue with a faction of the All Progressives Congress, APC, loyal to Tonye Cole, the governorship candidate.
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The official said credible intelligence indicated the PDP council was working with the APC to ‘accommodate and share the approved facility’.
Green noted that government records show APC activities ‘have always been marred by violence due largely to irreconcilable internal conflicts within the party’.
The commissioner mentioned ‘shootings and killings’ during protests that followed the nomination of delegates for primaries and the detonation of explosives in the course of campaigns.
The letter said the Rivers government is unable to risk damage to the valuable stadium ‘which your use of the same in collaboration with your Tonye Patrick Cole APC faction will definitely expose it to’.
In another report, Governor Wike has asserted that never at any time did he tell the public the method by which he would disclose the presidential candidate to vote for in the February 25 election.
Wike made this known on Thursday while speaking at a campaign rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt, and was responding to a statement by former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside.
In a statement which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York, Peterside had challenged the governor to go ahead and name his preferred presidential candidate if he was not afraid of sanctions from the leadership of the PDP.