APC Will Decide my Ambition for 2019, Says Dakuku Peterside

By Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt

The All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State during the 2015 general elections, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has said the decision to run or not in the 2019 election would be made by his party. 

Peterside, who is the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), spoke to journalists yesterday at the side-lines of the celebration of this year’s Day of the Seafarers at the Oil and Gas Free Zone, Onne, Rivers State. 

He spoke at the background of calls for him to run again for the governorship of Rivers State in 2019.

 “That decision (to run) will be made by my party and the people of Rivers State. We have not made that decision yet,” he said.

There has been speculations of divisions in the Rivers State chapter of the APC following alleged gubernatorial ambition of the senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe. 

Indeed, the Minister of Transportation and Leader of the APC in Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, removed local government caucus leaders of the party who were suspected to be supporting Abe’s ambition.

 Some of the caucus leaders who were relieved of their positions confirmed that they were sacked because of their support for the gubernatorial ambitions of Abe. 

But Peterside said there was no rift within the party but mere disagreements that were normal in any organisation. 

His words: “There is absolutely no rift within the Rivers State chapter of the APC. The party is united under the leadership of the Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. In various families, from time to time, you see people see things from different perspectives. But over time, there is an internal mechanism to solve those issues.

 

“What is going on in the APC in Rivers State is very usual in large families where you have vibrant young people. Where you have people who trade on ideas, there will be conflict of ideas from time to time. But that has nothing to do with the objective and the mission to uproot the misgovernance going on in Rivers State and install a government that represents the wishes and aspirations of Rivers people. We are all together on that.”