APC Destroying National Institutions, Says Wike 

• Party: No evidence of INEC, police collusion

By Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has decried the destruction  of key national institutions by the poor governance model of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government. 

Speaking during  a thanksgiving service in honour of Senator George Thompson Sekibo at the St Thomas Anglican Church in Diobu yesterday, Wike said due to the negative  governance  style of the APC, the police and INEC have  metamorphosed  into rigging machines that threaten the peace of the country.

According to him, the Appeal Court judgment which led to  the  loss of Rivers East senatorial district mandate was a fallout  of the unfortunate illegal  alliance  between the police and INEC.

He explained that the APC tendered results certified by the police to the tribunal, which the tribunal  relied  on, rather than the  results declared by INEC on election day.

He said incidentally, both the INEC  and police results had  the  same serial numbers, which revealed the fraud perpetrated  by the  two institutions. 

He said: “Instead of bringing change as they promised, things are getting worse. They have introduced extreme fraud in the country, especially  denying the people their mandate. 

“2019, they will not succeed. As far as we are concerned, we have no senator in Rivers East. The man going there has no  capacity to represent us. All of us should be  ready. We should be praying to God, but ready to fight”.

The governor said that nobody  should be  afraid of the police and the  army in the defence of their mandate in 2019.

“Nobody  should be afraid of the police or army, because  liberty comes with a price. They have nothing to campaign with outside  the use of security. I am ready to place myself on line, nobody will take Rivers State,” he said.

Wike  explained that he was  at the airport  to receive  President Buhari because  the president  is for all Nigerians, irrespective  of political parties.

He, however, said that  he continues  to disagree with the policies of the federal government, especially the faulty fight against corruption. 

In his remarks, Senator George Thompson Sekibo, reiterated his declaration  that he received  unflinching  support from Wike and Ikwerre people all through his political  struggle.

He said there was no Ikwerre agenda in his ouster from  the Senate.

Sekibo said: “If it was an Ikwerre Agenda, it would have been  displayed at the point of voting. At the tribunal, those who took away the mandate were not Ikwerre people”.

 

Delivering  his sermon, Venerable Richard Okpara urged judicial officers to use their constitutional powers  for the good of the country.

He also called on the federal government  to learn to accommodate  all political  interests, saying that  the  political space  should  not  be overheated.

“We must learn to blend for the good of the nation. We must be careful not to heat the polity. Variety  is the spice of life, monotony  kills interest”.

 

Reacting to the accusation, the state chapter of the APC described it as “manifestly false.”

 

The state Publicity Secretary of party, Mr. Chris Finebone, said in a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday that it was rather the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that destroyed institutions. 

He said: “There is no evidence that INEC and the police are collaborating to favour APC like the PDP, INEC, security agencies collaborated with Wike and Gesila Khan to handover the entire electoral process to Nyesom Wike and the PDP in 2015. Wike is merely being haunted by his past and his shadows. Let him sort himself out and leave APC alone.

“The verdicts handed down by the Appeal Court recently over the last rerun elections in Rivers State cannot be politicised by Wike as a means of shoring up morale among his party members. He should spare the judiciary his needless scathing criticism.”