Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
As the Rivers State Government continues to downplay allegations of complicity and conspiracy in the alleged manipulation of results of the February 25 presidential election that saw the All Progressives Congress’ Bola Tinubu controversially emerging winner in the state, chairman of the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council in Rivers, Tony Okocha, has come under fire for what other Tinubu supporters see as his over-praising of Governor Nyesom Wike during his recent press briefing.
Wike, who is the leader of the PDP in Rivers State, had opted to support the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, rather than the presidential candidate of his own party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, whom he had a rift with.
Before the presidential election, the Rivers governor had instructed his party members not to vote for those who said they would kill him when they win, in an apparent reference to Atiku Abubakar, adding that their ward leaders would tell them which presidential candidate they would vote for.
His body language, utterances, and activities later showed that he was supporting Tinubu, as he went ahead to grant the APC presidential candidate approval to use the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Port Harcourt, for his campaign rally and also receive him in government house.
The presidential election would later be characterised by massive irregularities across the nation, including Rivers where Tinubu’s APC was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) despite the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, reportedly winning in nearly all the polling units where election took place and results openly counted in the presence of voters, giving room to suspicions of a high-level executive conspiracy against Obi and his party.
However, in what could be described as his official appreciation speech a few days after the election, a seemingly over-excited Tony Okocha, at the press briefing, thanked the Rivers governor, Nyesom Wike, for his role in the victory of Tinubu’s APC in the state as well as his emergence as president-elect.
He also called on Rivers people to compensate the governor by supporting anybody he is supporting for the gubernatorial election coming up on March 11.
“We have witnessed and enjoyed good governance in Rivers State under Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike. He should be commended. A chip of the old block should therefore be encouraged, supported and promoted,” Okocha said.
He added: “What it means is that we should reciprocate the governor’s gesture in helping us win the election of 25th (February 2023). We should support whoever the governor says Rivers people should support and see the person as a credible candidate.”
But rather than impress them, Tony Okocha’s attribution of Tinubu’s victory in the state to Governor Wike is raising serious concern among the APC presidential candidate’s supporters in Rivers, including those in the PDP and Wike camp, it was gathered.
According to an informed source who spoke with TPCN on Sunday, these Tinubu supporters are worried that Tony Okocha’s revelation that Wike helped the APC to win the presidential election in Rivers, for which he sang the governor’s praises, could be interpreted by the public to mean that Tinubu’s victory in the state was a product of a special involvement by Wike and not Rivers people’s votes.
The source, who is a top member of the PDP in the state, said the general opinion within their circle is that those insinuating that the election was rigged with the collaboration of the state government could capitalise on Tony Okocha’s statement to justify their claims.
“I also understand that Tinubu’s supporters in other parties like APC and SDP are also worried because of this same issue. They feel that Tony should have credited Tinubu’s victory here to the Rivers people instead of heaping all the praises on the governor.
“He spoke like somebody who was carried away by happiness and he forgot that some people are claiming that the results were manipulated and have gone to court and you know there are intelligent lawyers who can read meanings into every statement to prove a point,” the source said.
It was gathered that the worries caused by Chief Tony Okocha’s attribution of Tinubu’s victory in Rivers solely to Governor Wike was the reason for the counter statement by the Tinubu-Shettima Grassroot Independent CampaignCouncil (TSGICC).
Coordinator of the group in Rivers State, Augustine Nwokocha, in trying to correct the impression created by Tony Okocha, stated that the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, won in the state because Rivers people voted for him due to his achievements in politics over the years.
Nwokocha said: “We state that the victory of our president-elect was a natural cause of event given his phenomenal pedigree as an astute politician par excellence, an administrator with an unmatchable track record of achievements, foresight, and bold vision.
“It’s important to state that the credit for the victory for Tinubu and the APC in Rivers State belong to Rivers persons who turned out to vote for the candidate of our party.
“It’s important to state that every opinion expressed by Tony Okocha in his aforesaid press conference is his personal opinion as he neither spoke for the TCC or the TSGICC which is led by my humble self.
“Whatever money Wike has deployed, I’m not aware that Nyesom Wike is Microsoft’s Bill Gates that has discovered such software that has amassed so much money in his hand or that he discovered Penicillin or the Covid vaccine that has given him so much money to be able to dip hand in his pocket and bring out N2 billion which he has quoted.
“Whatever resources that he has deployed – if so deployed – towards this election, still belongs to the people of Rivers State, and Rivers people must take the credit and not one man.”
