Description
Some supporters of Atiku Abubakar in Rivers State arrested allegedly on the order of Governor Nyesom Wike, may not take part in the general elections as they have been remanded at the Correctional Centre till 22 March.
Mr Atiku is the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 25 February election.
The over 20 members of Atiku Support Organisation were arraigned before a Magistrate Court in the state on Tuesday, Punch newspaper reported
The Chief Magistrate, Collins Ali, refused to grant them bail and ordered their remand.
The case was adjourned to 22 March for a hearing on their bail application, which would be over a week after the general elections.
Members of the Atiku Support Organisation were arrested by police officers who invaded their meeting venue in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the group, Victor Moses, in a statement on Sunday, said they were in a meeting to plan for the 11 February PDP presidential rally in the state when armed police officers invaded the meeting venue.
The arraignment came a day after Governor Wike directed security agencies in the state to clamp down on cultists and militants whom he claimed were masquerading as political support groups.
The governor in a state broadcast on Monday denounced what he described as the “rising cases of cultism during the electioneering period.”
