Rivers State Crisis: Senator Magnus Abe Shot By Trigger-Happy Policemen At APC Rally

Rivers State Crisis: Senator Magnus Abe Shot By Trigger-Happy Policemen At APC Rally

The Rivers State political crisis worsened yesterday when Senator Magnus Abe representing Rivers South-East was hit by rubber bullets. Police denied culpability. Also, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Tony Okocha, was among those allegedly teargased at a rally organised by the state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC). Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and four other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors defected to the opposition APC late last year.
The APC rally was held at the state’s College of Arts and Science, Rumuola Road in Obio/Akpor area.
The event, organised under the aegis of Save Rivers Movement, a mobilisation arm of the APC, was billed to start at 12 noon.
As soon as Senator Abe and Chief Okorocha arrived, over 25 Toyota Hilux vehicles carrying policemen stormed the venue at about 8.20am and allegedly started firing teargas and rubber bullets. Canopies, platform, chairs, tables, public address system and other electronic gadgets were allegedly destroyed.
Police allegedly sealed off Rumuola Road and those attending church services did so trekking there. Reporters were said to have been attacked. A claim that two children died in the melee couldn’t be verified by Daily Sun at press time.
When the “Save Rivers Movement” relocated the venue of the rally to Rumuigbo, the participants were not allowed. There is now palpable tension in Obio/Akpor and its environs. For instance, people living in the affected area and passers-by have expressed fears about their health condition, because of the inhaled teargas.
When reporters visited Kelsey Harrison Hospital, D-Line, where Senator Abe was rushed to, the Medical Director, Dr. Mckay Anyanwu, said the patient came in a state of shock.
He told journalists that the senator could neither drink nor eat. Anyanwu said the senator was restless because of the shock and internal bleeding he suffered after he was hit by the rubber bullets.
Anyanwu said: “He was unable to talk or eat and he was feeling restless as a result of a traumatic shock. The implication is that there is haemorrhage; this is a blood trauma, it is not a sharp one.
“So, we don’t know the layers that are affected. This can only be detected through the use of MRI. We have given the necessary resuscitative medication. He was bleeding internally (haemorrhage).
“If you check the two sides of his chest, the affected side is so enlarged, as compared to the unaffected area. My immediate concern was to revive the patient. It was later that I was being told that he was hit by a rubber bullet,” Anyanwu noted.
Senator Abe, who was said to be in critical condition, was later moved from Kelsey Harrison Hospital in Port Harcourt to the airport enroute London for further medical treatment.