Rivers, PDP at war over use of stadium

 Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi

THE Rivers State Government has condemned the threat by the Peoples Democratic Party in the state to forcefully enter the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for its presidential rally.

The state government had refused to approve the state PDP’s application to be allowed to use the stadium for the event, maintaining that the facility was still under construction.

It will be recalled that the All Progressives Congress in the state and the PDP had been at daggers drawn over the opposition party’s insistence that it must use the stadium for its rally.

The PDP had argued that since the APC had used the stadium for its (APC) presidential campaign, nothing should stop the state government from approving its (PDP) application.

But a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, and issued in Port Harcourt on Sunday, indicated that the stadium was still under construction.

Semenitari explained that the contractor handling the project had moved out of site before the APC could hold their rally on December 6, 2014, adding that the contractor had since gone back to work.

Explaining that the stadium was currently unsafe for use, she warned that the state government would not joke with the responsibility to guarantee the safety of lives and property of the people irrespective of the person that was involved.

“The attention of the Rivers State Government has been drawn to the statement credited to the Peoples’ Democratic Party that it will force its way into the Rivers State Government-owned Adokiye Amiesimaka Sports Complex to hold its Rivers State presidential rally.

“At a different time and under different circumstances, the Rivers State Government would have ignored the PDP’s ranting.

“But with the party’s penchant for violence and its recent bombings of people and property all over the state, it is pertinent that the Rivers State Government raises this alert and sounds a note of warning to the PDP that the Rivers State Government will not trifle with its responsibility to guarantee the safety of lives and property, irrespective of who is affected.

“The matter of the Adokiye Amiesimaka Sports Complex is a simple one. The complex is still under construction. As a work site, it is an unsafe environment for use at this time.

“The PDP makes reference to the fact that the APC had held its rally at the same venue. What they failed to mention is that the contractor was moved out of site during the time the APC rally held and remobilised to site right after that rally,” the commissioner said.

She pointed out that the Rotimi Amaechi administration was working towards ensuring the completion of its projects within the next five months and added that the state government would not be able to move the contractors out of site.

According to her, the state government has been magnanimous enough to approve for the PDP in the state the use of the Liberation Stadium for their presidential rally.