BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME
PORT HARCOURT— All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, has accused the Police of disrupting its rally in the area, yesterday.

A leader of the party, Elder Chidi Wihioka, said the Police allegedly stormed the council headquarters and pulled down canopies meant for the rally. He also claimed that the Police shot teargas and confiscated valuables of supporters of the party at Isiokpo.
Wihioka said the party had earlier informed the Police  of the rally in writing, adding that he was shocked with the alleged conduct of the Police.

He said: “On Tuesday, we were at Aluu when we started receiving calls that about six police troopers had stationed at the council premises, and we thought that maybe, they were after armed robbers around the axis, but we were later informed again that the police had disrupted the APC rally by destroying the chairs, canopies, tables and the public address system.  When we moved to Isiokpo to confirm the incident, we found out that the police had shot over 50 tear gas canisters, after they collected the valuables of party supporters, including phone handsets. I am a diabetic patient. My members and I were choked by the teargas.”

He said chiefs in the area who were waiting to be part of the rally were also allegedly harassed by the police.
Efforts made to get the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Ahmad Muhamed, to comment on the allegations were futile as he did not pick calls to his mobile phone. At press time, he was yet to respond to a text message sent to his phone for comment on the allegation.