There are counter claims
about whether the Senator was shot or not
The Rivers State police command
has denied shooting Magnus Abe, a senator from Rivers
state who was reportedly hit by officers dispersing a political rally in Port
Harcourt Sunday.
A police spokesperson called the
reports “a blatant lie.”
At Krisany Hospital where Mr.
Abe was rushed to for treatment, the medical director of the hospital, Dr Mckay
Anyanwu, told newsmen that the senator was brought to the hospital in a state
of shock caused by low blood pressure.
“He was unable to talk or eat,
and he was feeling restless as a result of traumatic shock,” he was quoted by
the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, as saying. “The implication is that there is
haemorrhage; this is a blood trauma, it is not a sharp one.”
He suggested Mr. Abe may have
been struck by a rubber bullet.
“There is a history of an
impact; a blunt impact on the left chest wall. Now there might be bleeding
internally because if you watch the chest wall; the affected wall is larger
than the right side,” he said.
The Rivers state government said
Mr. Abe was hit by a rubber bullet fired by the police and was admitted for
treatment. Tony Okocha, the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor,
Chibuike Amaechi, was also reportedly injured in the attack.
Both men were attending a rally
by a nongovernmental organization, Save Rivers Movement, at the Rivers State
College of Arts and Science.
The Rivers State commissioner of
information, Ibim Semenitari, said the attack was targeted at Mr. Amaechi and
may have been in demonstration of recent claims that President Goodluck
Jonathan, embroiled in a longstanding feud with Mr. Amaechi, was training
snipers ahead of the 2015 elections.
“The Rivers State government has
it on good authority that Senator Abe took the bullet originally meant for
Governor Chibuike Amaechi who was billed to be present at the event,” Ms.
Semenitari said in a statement.
“This is disconcerting especially in the light
of recent revelations that the presidency may be training snipers ahead of the
2015 elections and that Governor Amaechi is top on the list of those to be
eliminated.”
The state government called for
redeployment of the Rivers State police chief, Mathew Mbu.
But a spokesperson for the state
police command, Ahmad Muhammad, told PREMIUM TIMES that reports about the
police using maximum force to disperse the rally were untrue and misleading.
“For anybody to say that Senator
Magnus Abe was shot at is a blatant lie and a misleading statement,” Mr.
Muhammad said.
He said the police used “minimum
force” to disperse the rally and did not expend a single bullet.
“We used minimum force to
disperse them and not even a single ammunition was shot. I repeat it; not a
single ammunition was expended,” he said.
Mr. Muhammad said the Save
Rivers Movement flouted an existing ban on political rallies in the state and
refused to seek approval before staging one.
“This same group knows about the
ban which still in full force. During the launch of their group last year, they
informed the police and they were given adequate security in Elekahia then. How
come did they decided to carry out a rally without informing the police today?”
he queried.
But an aide to Mr. Abe, Honour
Sirawoo, insisted the lawmaker was hit by a rubber bullet fired by the police.
He said the bullet hit Mr. Abe on the chest and was taken to hospital for
treatment, NAN reported.
He said the Senator had gone to
supervise preparations for the rally when he was attacked at about 9.00 am on
Sunday.
Editor’s Note: This post has
been revised with additional details of Mr. Abe’s condition as provided by his
doctor.
Premium Times
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