The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State, on Thursday came down hard on the gubernatorial candidate of Accord Party, Dumo Lulu-Briggs, saying the billionaire businessman is still under the chronic influence of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The party was reacting to claims by Briggs during his world press conference on Wednesday where he alleged that the state is suffering under the Nyesom Wike-led PDP government.
Lulu-Briggs, in his press conference, said: “A wind of change is blowing across Rivers State, blowing away our tears. It is blowing through Ikwerre Land; the wind is blowing through Ogoni Land; it is whirling through the length and breadth of Kalabari Land, Andoni, Etche, Ogba, Ekpeye, Ndoni, Ndoki, Okrika, Engenni, Ibani, Bille, Abua and Odual Land. The strong wind of change is blowing from the mainland down to the creeks of Rivers State.
“As we approach the forthcoming polls, especially the governorship elections, on March 2, 2019, political activities are expected to get to the crescendo. Yet keen observers of the happenings in Rivers State in the last 20 years, especially the past three years and eight months, will agree that the state needs a new direction. Rivers State requires a new deal that must start with fresh interrogation of the leadership question in the state.
“It is an irony of fate that society as endowed with human and natural resources as well as with potentials for massive industrialization, as Rivers State, can have its people as marginalized and pauperized as we are,” Lulu-Briggs said.
But the Director of Information and Communications of Rivers State PDP Campaign Council Emma Okah has dismissed the press conference organised yesterday by the ’embattled Accord Party Governorship Candidate in the State’ Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs as a whitewash and mere jamboree.
Okah said, the comments made by Chief Lulu-Briggs were mere street talks and didn’t address the fundamental issues of development as Gov Nyesom Ezenwo Wike is doing in his campaigns.
In a press statement issued in Port Harcourt on Thursday, Okah said he was not surprised that Lulu-Briggs could not do better as there is nothing to say against Gov Wike.
“The huge challenge before him as a member of APC until a few weeks ago is to show what he and his party did for the people of Rivers State since 2015” Okah said pointing out that it is no longer enough for him to point one finger at the PDP while 4 fingers are pointing at him.
“Spreading falsehood in a press conference is only a cheap way to admit that you either abhor the truth or you are ignorant of them.
It is uncharitable to ask “what purpose has political leadership served Rivers State since 1999? “Okah added, noting that the state has moved forward since 1999.
On the issue of security in the state, Okah said Lulu-Briggs is still under the chronic influence of the APC whose stock in trade is to demarket their state at will.
“As a stakeholder, we challenge him to cite any contribution he has made to advance the security of his community, LGA or state not even when the Federal Govt of Nigeria turned her back against the state in times of security need.
“Rivers would not forget in a hurry how he led APC members to protest on the streets of Port Harcourt against the call by the government and people of Rivers State to transfer the politically polluted Commander of SARS in Rivers State.
On infrastructure, Okah said Wike is a project supremo and challenged Lulu-Briggs to name one governor in Nigeria who has done more projects and received more unsolicited awards of excellence like Governor Wike.
