Local news::Peterside raises alarm over killings in Rivers

– Dakuku Peterside expressed confidence that the APC would win the legislative elections in Rivers state

– He  raised alarm over the recent spate of killings, which he described as “barbaric, horrendous and inhuman”“The situation in Rivers today is tragic, terrible, horrendous, frightening, simply inhuman.

”Dakuku Peterside, the Rivers state governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in 2015 election, has expressed confidence that his party will win the legislative elections scheduled for Saturday, March 19

.Speaking with Vanguard, he raised alarm over the recent spate of killings and described the current situation in the state as “tragic, terrible, horrendous, frightening”“Some politicians in Rivers state believe they must get power at all cost and that is the root cause of the insecurity in Rivers state today.

People are slaughtered, beheaded, burnt, clubbed to death daily in the state and nobody is saying anything about it.

The state government has gone to sleep when it comes to security as if it is not part of their responsibility,”he noted.

, Peterside recalled some tragic incidents that claimed lives of innocent people.“This is not who we are in Rivers state.

24 persons were killed in one night at Omoku, 4 persons killed in Obibi Etche in one day, somebody burnt alive in Buguma, another person buried alive in Gokana, someone clubbed to death in Opobo and so on and so forth. What a gory tale fit for primitive societies.

It is notonly worrisome but it diminishes our humanness,”he stressed.Peterside noted that the military presence in some parts of the state is justifiable.

However, he called on security agencies to act within rules of engagement.

“Military presence in the state is more than justifiable and the story line being peddled in some quarters that the military are killing people is not true.

What you have been hearingare stories by some selfish politicians who want the Nigerian military out of the area to enable theirown army to continue to hold sway to the detriment of the ordinary people,”he said.Peterside has already begun workas the director-general/CEO of the Nigerian Maritime Administration andSafety Agency (NIMASA).

On Wednesday, March 16, he held a closed door meeting with members of senior management of the agency,where he urged the staff to cooperate in repositioning the NIMASA for greater productivity.

He said that he was ready to partner all stakeholders with a view to positively impacting the maritime sector and the Nigerian economy at large.

Meanwhile,the Lagos state chapter of Ijaw Youth Council expressed theirgratitude to President Muhammadu Buhariand the federal government for appointing Peterside as the director-general of the agency.