The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has predicted that immediate past Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, who is the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is unlikely to get up to 10 percent of the votes in the forthcoming governorship election in the state despite being the pledges and support by the president’s wife, Dame Patience Jonathan and others.
Wike’s emergence as the Rivers PDP flag bearer was mired in controversy when 16 other aspirants were physically prevented from attending the governorship primary election of the state.
Chairman of Rivers APC, Dr. Davies Ikanya, in a statement signed by his SSA Media and Public Affairs, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, on Tuesday said that “Wike would have tried to be man enough and allow the G16 to contest and defeat him flatly instead of allowing himself to be imposed as Rivers PDP governorship candidate through what has been generally accepted to be the most fraudulent and kangaroo governorship congress ever in Nigeria’s history. This is a man who is perpetually afraid of competition and who never believes in a free and fair election, hence we are not surprised that he brazenly used his stooges and clowns in PDP to frustrate and rig out the 16 better qualified gubernatorial aspirants. To say the least, Wike’s governorship ambition is both ungodly and unholy while his emergence as PDP’s candidate is shabby, dubious, shameful and undemocratic”.
The party, which was reacting to an earlier statement by Wike accusing it of embarking on a propaganda war ahead of the 2015 elections, lambasted the ex-minister “for having the temerity to levy a false accusation against the APC when all that we have been doing is to state the facts regarding Wike’s unreliable nature, his lack of preparation for the weighty responsibility of governorship and the wickedness of his party, the evil PDP, towards Rivers State and her people”.
The Rivers APC insisted that Wike’s governorship bid is at variance with natural law, equity, justice and fair play in the distribution of power in Rivers State. “We still maintain that his emergence is against the principle of zoning after the Upland section of the State has ruled for 16 years through Dr. Peter Odili and Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi at the detriment of Riverine section of the State”, the party said.
Dismissing Mr. Wike’s governorship bid as a doomed venture, the Rivers APC said: “Wike is no match in any way to our credible candidate, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside – a man of unimpeachable character with a proven record of performance. His chances, which were slim from the very beginning, have been further dimmed by the plot of the G16 disenfranchised governorship aspirants to fight him to a standstill. Besides, the recent smashing of Wike’s rigging plot by the Police, which nabbed his foot soldiers cloning INEC Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in a hotel in Port Harcourt belonging to one of his key supporters, has further weakened and eroded the probability of his winning the 2015 governorship polls”.
Rivers APC, in conclusion, declared: “In view of the above irrefutable facts, coupled with the efforts of both INEC and the security agencies to eliminate rigging during the 2015 elections, we make bold to predict that Wike and President Jonathan would require a miracle to get up to 10% of the votes to be cast during the 2015 governorship polls in Rivers State”.
