Rivers APC raises panel to probe secretariat bombing

The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has inaugurated a nine-member committee to research the bombing of its state secretariat on October 5, 2024.

The incident occurred within the early hours of the day when suspected dynamite was detonated on the APC Secretariat on Aba Highway, coinciding with native authorities elections within the state.

Talking at a media briefing on Monday after a gathering of the newly-elected State Government, Rivers APC Chairman, Chief Tony Okocha, introduced the panel’s formation.

The committee, led by the celebration’s Authorized Adviser, Kelechi Nwuzi, has been given one month to submit its findings.

Okocha emphasised the panel’s mandate to uncover the fast and distant causes of the assault, which marked the second bombing of the secretariat in current occasions.

He lamented that regardless of repeated requires motion, Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s administration had ignored the incident, prompting the APC to take issues into its personal arms.

The explosion, reportedly occurring at round 3:00 am, prompted vital injury, destroying the gate, shattering home windows, and setting the safety submit ablaze. Witnesses reported seeing three black Toyota Hilux vans fleeing the scene.

Okocha highlighted a report from the Rivers State Police Command, signed by its spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirming the assault.

Okocha criticised the state authorities’s Judicial Fee of Inquiry into arson and violence in the course of the native authorities elections, describing it as “political mischief.”

He mentioned the APC’s panel would conduct an neutral investigation, free from political interference.

“The essence of presidency is the safety of lives and property. Because the state authorities has proven apathy, now we have determined to arrange our panel. It can examine and report the causes of the bombing,” he acknowledged.

The APC Chairman careworn that the panel had the authority to summon anybody, together with Governor Fubara, regardless of his constitutional immunity.

Okocha appealed to President Bola Tinubu to help the APC in Rivers State and praised the President’s insurance policies geared toward addressing Nigeria’s financial challenges.

“That is the second time our workplace has been focused. We wish an intensive investigation. If nobody needs to assist us, we are going to assist ourselves,” Okocha concluded.