Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has dismissed claims in some quarters that the All Progressives Congress is an Islamic party.
Describing those spreading the rumour that the APC is an Islamic party as mischief-makers, the governor stressed that the party had no intention of implementing an Islamic agenda should it win the February 2015 presidential election.
Amaechi, who spoke on Wednesday during an interactive session with students at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education in Port Harcourt, also described the leading opposition party as a party of progressives.
He stated that one of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the party, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), was not responsible for the fears expressed in some quarters that the party planned on Islamizing the country, pointing out that APC meant well for Nigerians and the development of the nation.
The Rivers governor, therefore, urged Nigerians not to be worried by claims from those he called detractors, insisting that since Gen. Buhari as military head of state never thought of Islamizing Nigeria, he would not embark on such an exercise as a democratically-elected president.
He said, “The APC is not an Islamic party. This is so because when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) was Nigeria’s Head of State as a young man, he did not Islamise Nigeria, and to do that, he needs the endorsement of the National Assembly to debate over the issue. Buhari cannot Islamise Nigeria. Don’t be perturbed by what our detractors are saying.
“I am an ardent Catholic Christian and I converse with God a lot. It is not true that the APC will Islamise Nigeria. The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun is a Christian. Bola Tinubu’s wife is also a Christian, Buhari’s cook is a Christian from Igboland, his driver is also a Christian. As a father to all of those Christians, Buhari gives Sunday as a free day to his domestic members of staff to go to church and worship God. So, no one can believe what our detractors are saying about Buhari and the APC”.
He, however, expressed dissatisfaction at the stagnated political economy of Rivers State, alleging that the Presidency and his government’s detractors were responsible for the development.
“The political economy of Rivers State has been stagnated by the Presidency and our detractors. They are all thieves who don’t mean well for our state. They caused mayhem in the last administration. We assumed office and chased them away. Now, as my tenure draws close to an end, I can see they have brought them back.
“You and I have a responsibility to stop them from repeating what they did before. We will not allow them again to steal our funds. Imagine the missing $20bn that was stolen. We expect that our President would have sacked all those involved in the saga. But, he only threatened to sack the former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was only doing his legitimate duty at that time. Nigerians must have a rethink”, Amaechi said.
On the forthcoming general elections, Amaechi, who is the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, chairman, argued that the plan by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to usher in another Ikwerre governor in Rivers State in 2015 was unreasonable, not feasible and would fail.
To say General Buhari (retired) is going to Islamise Nigeria if he became the president of Nigeria in 2015, is pure propaganda! Those who are corrupt, inept, wicked and demonic are afraid of the punishment that is awaiting them if Buhari is the president of Nigeria, so they are using all conceivable propaganda to discredit him. I believe that Buhari has good intentions for all Nigerians.