Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose yesterday claimed that he was under house arrest in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. He was in Port Harcourt for the party’s botched convention.
He said he was not at the convention ground, because he was placed under house arrest at the old Presidential Lodge of the Government House, Port Harcourt.
Fayose was absent at the meeting that took place at the state secretariat of the PDP on Aba Road, Port Harcourt, after security agencies sealed off the Sharks Stadium venue of the convention.
He said an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was used to block the gate of the Presidential Lodge.
Fayose’s Media Assistant, Lere Olayinka, claimed that all efforts to get his boss to attend the PDP meeting were rebuffed by the security personnel. He described the action as unbelievable and unfortunate.
The Rivers State Police Command said it was not aware of Fayose being placed under house arrest.
Rivers police Spokesman, Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), in a telephone interview yesterday evening, said that there was no report of such incident.
Omoni insisted that officers and men of the Rivers police command were law abiding and polite, with emphasis always placed on due process and rule of law.
Chairman of the National Convention Planning Committee and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike berated the security agencies for refusing to obey the judgment order of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.
He said: “All the vehicles used by the police to invade the Sharks Stadium were bought by my administration. All the armoured personnel carriers they used were serviced by my administration. What happened was unfortunate.
“If the PDP had used the security agencies to torment the APC this way, by now the APC wouldn’t have been in power.”
He went on: “Sheriff is not an asset to PDP because he cannot win elections in Borno state. For us, we are working to rebuild the party.”