The Rivers State government on Friday has sealed the state campaign office of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Located in Port Harcourt, the state capital, the office was sealed on the directive of the state government following a court order.
The governor’s Special Assistant on New Media, Mr Kelvin Ebiri said that a state executive order prohibits the location of campaign offices in residential areas.
“The Rivers State government approached a court which ordered that the place should be sealed up.
“The Rivers State Executive Order 22 prohibits the location of a political campaign office in a residential area. It was the court that ordered the place to be sealed up,” he said.
Friday’s development is the latest in a cycle of controversies involving Atiku and Wike, both of the same political party.
Wike and his group, which included four other PDP governors, have been insisting on the removal of the party’s national chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu following the emergence of Atiku as the presidential candidate. Both are from the North, a situation the Wike camp intended to balance by having the party chairman emerged from the south.
In October, Wike alleged that Atiku constituted the PDP presidential campaign council in his state without his input.
Last Thursday at the inauguration of a flyover in Obi-Akpor Local Government Area, Wike said that he would announce his preferred presidential candidate in January and mobilise people “from state to state” for his choice.
“From January next year, I will campaign to my people who they will vote for. So, all of you who have been suspects and have been saying all kinds of things and abusing me, wait. January has come”, he said.