The Rivers State Chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has vowed to resist plans by the state government to clampdown on opposition political parties and politicians in the state.

The party made the declaration in a press statement signed by its publicity secretary , Jerry Needam.

The ACN was reacting to a meeting in government house, Port Harcourt on January 9, 2013, where PDP local government chairmen and their Deputies were ordered to arrest anybody holding any kind of political meetings in their respective local government areas and charge such persons to court for cult activity.

Needam said: “The 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended guarantees freedom of speech, expression, meeting, gathering and/or assemblage.”

“The ACN vows to resist any attempt by the Rivers State government to put fear into opposition parties and politicians who have refused to join them to steal tax payers’ money”

“No amount of intimidation, harassment and threats shall hinder opposition political parties, politicians and well-meaning people of Rivers State from exposing massive corruption that has become the tradition in all local government councils, ministries and agencies of the Amaechi administration”. ACN vowed.

The ACN describes as anti-people, undemocratic, provocative and attempt to stir crisis in the state by the Rivers State government to have banned political meetings and gatherings in the state.

The party urges Governor Amaechi to have a rethink over the selfish and unpopular policy, declaring “We shall resist the attempt to gag us with the last drop of our blood. We cannot be fooled again. If you like, build more prison yards, we don’t bother”ACN tells Amaechi.

The Executive Director, African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, David Ugolor, has criticized President Goodluck Jonathan for his silence over the murder of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, the late Private Secretary to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

The Benin-based advocate in an interview with Premium Times, said Jonathan was yet to demand the report of the high-powered panel he ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to institute after the murder incident.

Oyerinde, a former assistant General Secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress was killed at his residence on May 4, 2012.

The ANEEJ boss said the president’s stand on the matter was one of the reasons the people do not trust him as a leader. “If he wants to be taken seriously by Nigerians, he should call for the report of investigation into the killing of Olaitan Oyerinde.”

Ugolor who was arrested by the police on July 21 after they claimed he sponsored the killing, said he was kept in prison custody with “hardened criminals” for 41 days, till the court freed him after declaring his arrest and detention illegal. He was awarded N5 million compensation, which the police have since appealed.

He noted that the police boss seven months down the line, has refused to make the panel’s findings public, defying the president’s directive who wanted the report submitted three weeks after the inauguration of the investigating team.

“Since my release from detention, I have sent several pleas to the President for his intervention. The police tried to frame me up, but they failed.”

“It is clear the IGP had lied. Since I was granted bail, I have been pleading with the President for intervention. The IGP cannot be a judge in his own case. We sent petitions to the National Assembly, which was read on the floor.

Ugolor added that “When I was granted bail by the court after 41 days in prison, the IGP of police disobeyed the court order. That shows that there was a superior power behind the IGP. He could not have acted on his own. Oshiomhole has cried to the President without any concrete response.

“I challenge the IGP to publish the police the report. If the report indicts the IG, I hope he would be courageous enough to resign honourably? I want to appeal to Mr. President. It is not David Ugolor or Olaitan Oyerinde that is on trial, but Nigeria.”

“What kind of transformation are we talking about that would make an IGP to tell the people lie over the killing of a citizen? President Jonathan ordered the IGP to institute a high powered investigation into the killing and report back within three weeks. Till today has he asked the IGP about the report?” the human rights activist lamented.

“If the president cannot order the IGP to reconcile its report with that of the State Security Service, SSS, what transformation are we talking about? When you have a president who is busy setting up different committees and the reports are not coming out, he is cultivating the perception of no trust around him. Jonathan has the responsibility to behave in a way that Nigerians would take him serious,” he said.