Why we cancelled approved venue for Atiku's rally, by Wike

• Published date: 03 February 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Governor has directed local govt. chairmen, aides to work for Tinubu, says Atiku's camp

Atiku, an unrepentant enemy of Rivers, Nigeria, says Rivers PDP

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has explained that the reason why his government stopped the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flag bearer in the forthcoming election, Atiku Abubakar from using the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for his campaign is to safeguard the facility from vandalism.

The governor who spoke at the Rivers PDP campaign in Degema, Degema Local Government Area yesterday, described the claim that the Rivers government did not want PDP Presidential Campaign Council to campaign in the state as erroneous, as he recalled that the government earlier gave approval to the party to use the stadium at no cost. He said: 'Don't say we stopped them from holding their rally; we didn't. They applied to me and I gave (Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium) to them. They now went back and began to meet with the faction of the opposition, and you know that the opposition has never held any rally without violence.

'And I said I cannot joke with Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium. Since we have this intelligence we will not allow it. Did anybody force us to give them before? Are we not the ones who gave them? Did they pay money? Go and see the place. I know they are happy because they know there is no way they can fill that stadium. Instead of them to say thank God for covering our shame.'

Following the withdrawal of the initial approval by the Rivers State government for the use of the stadium, the PDP Presidential Campaign Council must have made moves to use the University of Port Harcourt. But, the university yesterday denied a report that the PDP presidential campaign had been shifted to its campus. The university described the report, which came after Atiku and the PDP were denied the use of the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium by the state government, as false.

In a statement, yesterday, by its Public Relations Officer, Dr. Sam Kpenu, the institution said the university was not a campaign ground. The statement reads: 'Management has not authorised any political campaign rally at the university. The university is not a political ground for political campaigns

'We are not contemplating releasing its facility to the Atiku Campaign Council. The public is, therefore, called upon to discountenance this deliberate falsehood aimed at tarnishing the towering reputation of the university, as it is simply a figment of the imagination...