By Bukola Olasanmi
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has closed the Atiku/Okowa campaign headquarters in the state.
This is part of his new offensive against the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign.
The office, which is in Port Harcourt’s GRA axis, was shut down for causing loud political activities in residential neighborhoods without the state government’s consent.
Wike effected the closure of the campaign office based on Executive Orders 21 and 22.
The Rivers branch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council had submitted a written request for permission to conduct political activities on the property.
Before the venue was sealed on Friday, the application had gone unanswered for months.
The seal on the office was deemed anti-democratic and a breach of free speech by the state’s PCC’s media team.
“The public is hereby informed that the sealed premises had no billboard or poster, since the approval had not been given, yet it was sealed off, a sign that the delay in the approval is premeditated and computed to cause this sort of unlawfulness.
“We condemn this act because it rubs off on our fundamental right to free expression of interest.
“Furthermore, this egregious move by the Rivers State Government, seen in the prism of politics, tends to militarise our democracy and renders our dear state politically recessive when juxtaposed with other states in the country,” the media team said in a statement.
Wike is one of five PDP governors diametrically opposed to the presidential aspiration of Atiku.
Wike has been fighting Atiku and PDP Chairman Iyorchia Ayu, since he lost the party’s presidential ticket to Atiku in May.
Recall that Governor Wike had previously ordered the dismantling of Atiku campaign billboards and posters in Rivers.