• Governor attacks Amaechi, Abe for ‘misleading’ Igbo, CAN
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike yesterday gave a hint on how the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would be reorganised in post-May period.
He said for the leading opposition party to be rebuilt, it should be liberated from vampires and buccaneers.
Wike, arrowhead of the aggrieved PDP governors – G5 – said despite the antics of those who fragmented the platform, efforts will be made to rebuild it into a formidable party.
The governor, who has been at loggerheads with the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakr, and national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, spoke during the inauguration of the 10-kilometre road constructed by his administration in Igwuruta, Ikwerre Local Government Area.
He blamed former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi and Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate Magnus Abe for misleading Igbo and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the state.
Also receiving the leadership of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo at the Government House, Port Harcourt, the state capital, Wike said G5 was satisfied with the emergence of a president from the South.
He disclosed that the G5 contributed to the actualization of zoning and power shift to the South.
Justifying the position of G5 on the 2023 polls, Wike said those who violated the provisions of the PDP constitution for rotation of elective and appointive offices would be thrown out of the party.
He said: “We have finished the first phase of the war. We are going to the second phase of the war. In the second phase of the war, we must chase out the buccaneers and vampires. We are going to chase them out of the party, take our party and rebuild our party.
“These people left our party in 2014/2015 and our party lost in the election. Again, they have come back, our party has lost again. They have destroyed our party. We are going to chase them out of our party. They have no role to play in our party.”
Wike said it was hypocritical for the national leadership of the PDP, which blatantly jettisoned provisions of Section 7 (3) C of the party’s constitution that recommends rotation of elective and appointive offices, to accuse the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of not following its guidelines for the conduct of the general election.
He said: “You are blaming INEC chairman, he did not follow guideline. You, did you follow our own constitution? He who seeks equity must come with clean hands. Whatever you sow, you will reap.”
The governor maintained that by breaching Section 7 (3) C of the PDP constitution, the PDP leadership had committed anti-party that led to its humiliating loss in the presidential election.
Wike said: “I am an apostle of power shift. I fought for it. I have no apology to anybody. I said power must shift from the North to the South. I did not commit any anti-party. I fought for the unity of the country. Those of them at the national level in PDP committed anti-party.
“When people abandon the provisions of constitution of their party that talks about zoning of elective and appointive offices, what is more anti-party than that? You that refuse to obey the constitution of your party because of impunity; because you think you have the number, so, you refuse to obey the provisions of the constitution of your party.”
The governor maintained that the loss suffered by the PDP during the presidential election was avoidable, if not for the obstinacy of those, who erroneously believed that certain cabal in Aso Villa would install them.
Wike said Rivers had reaffirmed its commitment to the PDP by winning all the three senatorial and nine out of ten House of Representative seats declared so far by INEC.
The governor also took a swipe at his predecessor Rotimi Amaechi, whom he accused of stoking conflict between the people of Rivers and their Igbo neighbours.
He said Amaechi’s attempt to reintroduce the long forgotten issue of abandoned property because of his inordinate political agenda smacked of mischief.
He described as preposterous Amaechi’s promise to the Igbo that they would be compensated for abandoned property in the state, if they supported his crony, Tonye Cole, in the governorship election.
Wike said: “We are living in peace, harmony with our (Igbo) brothers and sisters. Because he wants to install Tonye Cole, he is now talking about issue we have long forgotten.
Wike said if Amaechi truly loved the Igbo, he would have supported the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr.Peter Obi, instead of mobilising for the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is from the North.
He said: “Amaechi, you are half smart. You said you love the Igbos, but you supported Atiku for president. You refuse to support Obi. You didn’t know the Igbos then, that you were supposed to support them.
“When he (Amaechi) was running for president, he said power should come to the South. When he lost, he didn’t believe in that again. So, power should go to the North so that when the North finishes, he will beg them to give him power. No way.
“Within us in our Integrity Group, we agreed that we must make sure power comes to the South and in any state where you have control, if Labour Party comes first, APC must come second. If APC comes first, Labour Party must come second, and we did it. I am proud to say it.”
The governor also castigated the governorship candidate of the SDP, Senator Abe, for lying to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that if they supported his ambition, he would sponsors Rivers people on pilgrimage to Israel.
He declared that currently in the country, no state government could claim it had supported Christendom more than his administration.
The governor said the Rivers State government had donated N800m and N500m respectively to the Anglican and Catholic churches’ university projects.
The Nation
