The peace process initiated by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike to cement the frosty relationship between him and Rotimi Amaechi may be jettisoned as both are now engaged in war of words.
In a response to allegations made by the Minister of Transportation, Amaechi during his appearance on Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Wike said that the former Rivers State Governor failed in his quest to truncate his second term because Rivers people were happy with his work.
He said he would not have responded to the falsehood being peddled by the Minister of Transportation, but that he owed the public the duty to set the record straight.
He said: “It is unfortunate. I extended the Olive Branch and I meant every word of it. It was on that basis that the State Attorney General filed a nolle prosequi to withdraw the charge against Ojukaye Flag Amachree.
“If I did not do well in my first term, PDP wouldn’t have given me the party’s flag to fly. In 2015, the same man vowed that over his dead body would I emerge victorious.
“I have done well for my people . It is for the people of Rivers State to decide. It is not in the place of Amaechi to decide.
“We have over 6 million people and over 3 million registered voters. Therefore, Amaechi cannot say I cannot go for a second term. He has only one vote.
“In the past, he said an Ikwerre man cannot succeed another Ikwerre man. Today, he is saying his grouse is that I cannot go for a second term. At every step, he has one story or the other”.
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Wike said contrary to the story that Amaechi peddled whilst he was on Channels Television, kidnapping raged during his tenure. He said it was so bad that the State Chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission under Amaechi was kidnapped.
The governor noted that despite the national high-rate of insecurity, Rivers State is relatively peaceful, with very high ratings.
“Our internally Generated Revenue has improved due to the peace and security in the state”.
Wike said that the political misfortune that befell the APC during the last general elections in Rivers State was principally due to the impunity of Amaechi .
He said: “It is because of this impunity that his party was not on the ballot. Because of this impunity he has denied so many people their political future “.
He said that the plots by Amaechi to manipulate the Tribunal would fail like other previous plots. The Governor noted that Amaechi’s boast that he appointed the members of the tribunal and that they would work for him remained one of his empty boasts.
Wike said that Amaechi’s alleged plot to use the police to illegally certify fake results as he did for Rivers East Senatorial District during the rerun elections tribunal would fail.
“The game he played in Rivers East of using the police to certify fake results will not work. During the rerun Police certified fake results. That game will not work again. We have gone beyond that. We are waiting for the police to certify fake results for Amaechi “.
He stated that there was no way that the defeated AAC Governorship candidate, Engr Awara would have been coasting to victory when he neither campaigned or printed posters.
He said: “Awara ran for the PDP councillorship in 2018 and lost. For this election, he did not campaign and never printed posters. Look at that kind of impunity. He brought a man that the people of Rivers State never knew three days to the election.
“The AAC had no House of Assembly candidates, they had no House of Representatives candidates and no Senate candidates for the elections. There is no way that such a party would have been coasting to victory.”
He added that the AAC Governorship Candidate couldn’t have been coasting to victory and still approach the Federal High Court for the cancellation of the Governorship Election Results.
On the allegation that the INEC Chairman , Professor Mahmood Yakubu influenced the suspension of the Collation process because he worked under him at the Federal Ministry of Education, the Rivers State Governor said that the position of Amaechi was baseless.
He said that at the Ministry of Education, he superintended basic Education, while the INEC Chairman served as TETFUND Executive Secretary under the Minister of Education. He said that the INEC Chairman was appointed by the APC Federal Government and since his appointment, there has been no links.
