The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected attempts by those it described as political interlopers paid to foist the immediate Governor of the state, Nyesom Wike as the leader of the party.
The Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju in a letter dated July 6, 2023 and addressed to President Bola Tinubu said Rivers APC is burdened by rumours of impending arrival of Wike.
He said they believed that Tinubu will not allow those who believe in political thuggery and those known by local and international community as perpetual abusers of our democratic stability and mischief markers to join the party.
Nwauju stated categorically that the Rivers APC will resist attempts by the former governor to join its fold.
He called Tinubu’s attention to the facts that Wike has always ridden on the back of APC national government to unleash mayhem on true followers and members of APC, as such should be resisted because he has no political ideology as script he follows.
The spokesman recalled that the 2015 presidential election melted unquantifiable brutality on members and families of APC in Rivers State with countless casualties, yet the party resisted the onslaught of Wike lead aggression on innocent party followers and members.
He noted that the presidential election ended with the former governor polling total votes of 1,487,075, while the APC scored only 69,238 votes.
Nwauju added that the presidential election in 2019 also had its own uniqueness with an expanded APC having more actors in the field like Tein Jack-Rih and Tonye Cole who came with additional value to broaden the party’s horizon under the leadership of Chief Emeka Beke as the Chairman of the party in the State.
The spokesperson stressed that APC went into the 2019 presidential election with better strategies thereby bringing some measurable value to APC because Wike and his cohorts couldn’t roll out their usual millions of written votes, rather they struggled to record 473,971 votes with APC 150,710 votes as against their planned millions.
Nwauju said the 2023 presidential election also came with some differentiation approach with its own unique challenges which the party also surmounted, saying APC scored total votes of 231,591, while Labour Party scored 175,071 and PDP got 88,468 votes.
He said: “Comparing the performance of the 2019 presidential election where Gov Wike claimed 473,971 votes in favour of PDP, with APC recording 150,710 just have a difference of 80,881 votes.
“Gov Wike claiming victory of pulling 80,881 new votes is only to undermine loyal and dedicated APC members and we the stakeholders.”
“Dear Mr. President, we wish to clear the air that Gov Wike did not deliver any value to our dear Rivers State APC, rather he fought against our dear Rivers APC as the numbers above speaks for itself.
“If former Gov Wike did work for us, where is the 1,487,075 votes he delivered to PDP in 2015 presidential election, where is the 473,971 votes he delivered in favour of PDP in 2019 presidential election.”
“If Gov Wike claimed to work for APC in Rivers State, how could the total vote cast in the 2023 presidential election be 495,130 which is about the same total number of votes he claimed in favour of his party in the 2019 presidential elections.
“If Gov Wike claim he worked in favor of APC presidency in this last 2023 presidential election, how come he couldn’t deliver the same 1,487,075 he delivered in 2015 presidential elections or even the 473,971 he fought to deliver in favour of his PDP in the 2019 presidential elections.
“We know that your leadership will not allow those who believe in political thuggery, those known by local and international community as perpetual abusers of our democratic stability and mischief markers, whose thrive is money mongering to highjack our dear Rivers APC because they now see party politics as tradeable commodity but we able well abled to continue to resist them.”