TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE RIVERS STATE CHAPTER, ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS, APC, ON THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2018 AT THE STATE SECRETARIAT, 43 FORCES AVENUE, OLD GRA, PORT HARCOURT.
Gentlemen of the Press,
WIKE HAS MERELY LABELED ANGRY PDP MEMBERS THREATENING SATURDAY’S SHAM LG COUNCIL ELECTIONS AS APC MEMBERS – APC
…’Wike is a curse to Rivers State and like every evil ruler God used to punish the Israelites, he’ll end in disgrace come 2019’
Thursday morning, Rivers people and members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, were subjected to a piece of broadcast in which the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike blurted out hardly legible lines in the name of a state broadcast concerning the sham local government council election in which he clearly mentioned some leaders of the APC he claimed were working to disrupt the said sham election in the State.
It is absolutely important to quickly mention that the APC, its leaders and members across Rivers State have no stake in the sham local council elections and have no reason at all to consider or disrupt a process we have clearly distanced ourselves from and made such position known to the world.
However, it is pertinent to state that in that broadcast, Gov. Wike was simply showcasing his typical self by shying away from the groundswell of protests by cheated PDP members who have told him to his face that they will disrupt the sham council polls especially in the local government areas he enumerated in his broadcast. It is clear without doubt that by dragging the names of the APC and its leaders into the fray, Gov. Nyesom Wike was merely pre-empting the disruption his disgruntled party men and women have vowed to visit on the sham elections on Saturday. Attempting to place his fears at the doorsteps of the APC is the typical pedestrian and cowardly indwelling traits of the man called Nyesom Wike.
Analysing the speech further, it is all too glaring to see that the target of Wike in the broadcast is to frame up his own members who may have agreed to vote out the candidates the governor imposed on their party against popular opinion of their members. It is noteworthy to state here and the governor knows it that no APC member will get close to any polling booth. But why did the governor harp so strongly about people voting and defending their votes? This is merely to frame up those of their members who have decided to vote for and defend the interest of their popular candidates against the choice the governor imposed on them.
Very importantly, it must be clarified that the APC leaders he listed are all out of Rivers State on various national and international assignments. While the APC State Chairman, Hon. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree and Hon. Emma Chinda have been in Abuja and Lagos respecteively, His Excellency, Oji Ngofa is in faraway Netherlands where he is the Nigerian Ambassador. Indeed, Wike doesn’t know the difference between political propaganda and outright white lies unbefitting of the high office of a governor. It goes to confirm that no one values what he he/she does not merit. We all know what a street dog will prefer to a piece of good meat.
On the reference to our State Chairman, Hon. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree as a fugitive, we make bold to inform Nyesom Wike that the matter he was referring to is before a competent court of law and the governor was simply displaying his disdain for and/or ignorance of the courts (despite being a lawyer) by making such uncouth and sub-judicial comments on the matter. It is on record that if there is anyone with accusations of murder today in Rivers State it is Gov. Wike who inspired and supervised the wanton killings in Rivers State before, during and after the elections by compromising INEC and security officials alongside none state actors whom he seduced with state assembly slots in the PDP.
We would like to mention that after watching and listening to Gov. Nyesom Wike in the past year or so, it is obvious that he has become paranoid about the 2019 elections. It is obvious that his trickery of Rivers people and his party members is steadily but slowly coming to an end. This is typified by the gale of defections that has hit the PDP recently including that of Hon. Martins Mannah representing Ahoada Constituency I and several appointees and supporters of the governor and PDP in Oyibo and Andoni LGAs.
We will not end this press briefing without serving notice to Gov. Nyesom Wike to begin to pack his luggage to vacate Government House Port Harcourt as the APC and Rivers people will uproot him like the stubborn Iroko tree on the path of their enduring and sustainable development. It is always logical and sensible to serve people their own soup after all they say the taste of pudding is in the eating.
Permit me to call on all members of the APC and peace-loving Rivers people and residents of the State to ignore the frivolous and totally baseless statements made by Gov Wike in his broadcast. The APC knows that there will be no value addition to it as a party to indulge in disrupting or undermining a process we have already washed our hands off because we know that it is an exercise in futility ultimately – a total waste of valuable time. We very well know that the law will deal with the sham elections in fullness of time. Our members should shun anything that will directly or remotely associate them with the sham exercise on Saturday. Governor Nyesom Wike has brought home ant-infested firewood, he should deal with it squarely!
The APC will continue to encourage leaders and members of the collapsing PDP still suffering Wike’s high-handedness and misrule to throw in the towel and free their conscience same way Larry Pepple, Hon. Martins Mannah, Hon. Sir Bright Jacob, Hon Nnamdirim Ihute and Chief Mowan Etete amongst several others have recently done. Ahead of 2019, Wike must be left alone in the severely torn umbrella of PDP.
Warisenibo Chris Finebone
State Publicity Secretary
14/6/2018
