Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has challenged Governor Nyesom Wike to come out with evidence to prove his assertion that the state chairman of the party and Senator Magnus Abe met with the national chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC at the Commission’s Port Harcourt office.
The party also alleged that the governor is laying grounds for the kind of violence that resulted into the killing of over 100 persons before, during and after the 2015 general elections and the subsequent rerun elections with the claim which it described as false.
While refuting the claim of the Governor, APC stated emphatically that neither Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, nor the Rivers State South-East Senatorial Candidate of the APC, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, separately or as a group, met with the Chairman of INEC or any INEC personnel at the Commission’s Headquarters or anywhere else as contrived by Gov. Wike.
“If the governor claims to have any information suggesting that any such meeting took place, he should feel free to make the details public for the benefit of all”, APC said in a statement signed by Chris Finebone, the party’s state publicity secretary.
APC said it is ready to participate in the forthcoming rerun election as scheduled by INEC and the PDP should not bother itself with its mode of campaign.
The party further said while it would not serve as an advocate or mouthpiece for federal institutions and personalities, it is important that the “callous and mindless mudslinging by Gov. Wike on INEC and security agencies is true-to-type especially when he wants to stir the water muddy in order to create a smokescreen to perpetrate his evil machinations.
“We are very sure that establishments like the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], its Chairman and those in charge of the nation’s security services are eminently placed and able to respond to the ragtag and thuggish blackmail by Gov. Nyesom Wike.
“APC wishes to call on security agencies to take notice that Gov. Nyesom Wike has once again started issuing the kind of death threats that resulted into the killing of over 100 persons before, during and after the 2015 general elections and the subsequent rerun elections.
“We call on the Inspector-General of Police and heads of other security agencies to firmly hold Gov. Nyesom Wike responsible for any loss of life on the part of the people, residents, electoral and security personnel in Rivers State especially during the forthcoming rerun elections.
“Immunity should not be a license for Gov. Nyesom Wike to carry on lawlessly. Rivers State is not and will never be turned into a jungle by a single individual because of his inordinate and obscene desires and cravings,” the party said.