Chieftain of the All Progressives (APC) Congress in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State has never won any election fairly since the emergence of Governor Nyesom Wike in 2015.
He said that PDP’s win in the state does not conform with the “tenets of participatory democracy or reflects the will of majority.”
Eze, an erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike was plotting to use the court to disqualify governorship candidates of other parties from contesting in the 2023 elections.
According to him, “the legal ambush and witch-hunt by the Governor and his party against other political parties in Rivers State with a clear intendment of denying them participation in the 2023 elections in a bid to give their unsellable candidate a free ride to power exposes the cowardice of the Governor and his party who are afraid of going into a free and fair contest with other candidates and parties.”
“What the world should know about Rivers State Politics and how Governor Nyesom Wike has retained power in Rivers State since 2015 is that there has not been any proper democratic or free electoral contest since 2015 in Rivers State to test the true relevance of Wike. His fear of proper and free electoral contest has always lured him to ensure that every strong opposition to his misguided governance of the State is quashed or dismantled. He did it in 2015 and by 2019 he perfected it by ensuring through the help of his stooge, Senator Magnus Abe and others that the APC is stopped from fielding candidates and contesting the 2019 general elections,” The party chieftain said in a statement.
Eze accused Wike of alleging a case of misappropriation of state funds by the Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi led-administration in a ploy to stop Tonye Cole, the APC Flag-Bearer for the 2023 general elections from contesting.
He said this is because the governor knew “that no Rivers State funds was either misappropriated or misplaced as the said funds were not only captured in the 2014 budget of the State but were also duly paid into the account of the State Government.”
He further alleged that Wike had in a suit before a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt sought the disqualification of the governorship candidates of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Accord party (AP), to sell the “unpopular and unacceptable candidature of Mr. Sim Fubara,” the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state.
According to Eze, “Wike wants to impose him on the State in order to protect the massive looting and misuse of Rivers State patrimony under his watch.”
The APC chietain noted that Rivers people were aware of the governor’s plan, adding that the “latest plot by Wike will not work as Rivers electorates are now better enlightened and committed to voting out his candidate no matter the odds.”
Recall that the PDP had in the suit asked the court to disqualify Dumo Lulu-Briggs, the governorship candidate of Accord Party, and Maurice Pronen of SDP in the 2023 general elections for alleged non-compliance with the new Electoral Act by their parties during their various primaries.
