- Asks Amaechi to let his son lead war in Rivers
Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said he never negotiated with President Muhammadu Buhari to be allowed to return as governor in exchange for his support for the president as claimed by the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.
He also dared Amaechi to allow his son to lead the war he declared on the people of the state instead of using other peoples’ children to cause violence.
This is as the state has commiserated with families of victims of Tuesday’s stampede at the presidential rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt in which 17 persons lost their lives.
Amaechi had during the APC rally on Tuesday said Wike was negotiating with the APC to be allowed to retain his seat in exchange for support for Buhari.
The Transportation Minister also declared that Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections would be war in the state as he was determined to deal with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) same way they dealt with him in 2015.
But addressing non-indigenes of Rivers State at a Campaign Rally in Port Harcourt yesterday, Wike said Amaechi needed psychiatric evaluation for suggesting that he negotiated with the president to allow him emerge as second term governor in exchange for the president’s victory.
“If I am their problem, why should I be negotiating with the President? It is utter rubbish. It is totally untrue. The President should help us bring a psychiatrist to review the situation of the Minister of Transportation.
“I plead with the president to do us this favour because our son is gone. We want to bring him back,” he said.
Wike expressed disappointment that Buhari sat and watched the Minister of Transportation threaten violence and deaths on Rivers State people without taking action.
“I was so disappointed that Mr. President was seated and the Director General of his campaign was threatening violence, singing war songs. Today they signed a peace accord. What will be the meaning of the Peace Accord when Mr. President sat down and listened to his Director General threatening deaths and violence?
“I have no problems with Amaechi’s threat of violence, but can he bring his son to lead the war? I challenge Amaechi, he has a grown up son, who should lead the violence. His son can lead the war and then we will know that Amaechi is serious “he said.
He called on Buhari to call Amaechi to order and urged the international community to hold Amaechi, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 6 Division of the Nigerian Army and the Mobile Police Commander of Unit 48 responsible should there be violence during the elections. He said Amaechi’s bragging is premised on the plan to use the military to rig elections.
He wondered why Amaechi is leading the unnecessary push for violence when they are not running for elections in the state. He said after dashing the political hopes of several contestants of APC, Amaechi is still leading them to unleash terror on innocent people.
On the Rivers APC crisis, Wike said he is not the architect of the crisis, neither is he a party to the crisis. He said the crisis was generated by the impunity of the Minister of Transportation.
“I did not take APC to court. I never went to court against the APC. The matter is between APC and APC. How then did I cause the problem of the APC?” Wike queried.
He added that Amaechi, who did not run election, was made governor by the Supreme Court. He regretted that Amaechi is now struggling to destroy the Supreme Court.
Wike said unlike the Rivers APC, the PDP is committed to peaceful polls because it is confident of victory, adding that he is unequivocally committed to the election of Atiku Abubakar because he has the capacity to lead the country out of the woods.
Leader of the non-indigenes, Emeka Onowu, said the non-indigenes would support Wike’s re-election and that the victory of the governor was guaranteed because of his numerous projects.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government has commiserated with families of those who lost their lives during the stampede that occurred at the APC Presidential Campaign Rally at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Igwuruta-Ali, Port Harcourt.
A statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, said “these deaths at a time like this are very unfortunate and deeply saddening”.
He said, “It is a sad development and we share the pains of these families. It is possible that this ugly situation costing 17 lives, would have been avoided if the organisers had taken some basic precautions relating to crowd management in a gated environment”
