The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has said it did not call on former Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and join it’s fold.
A chieftain of the party in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, had during a meeting of APC stakeholders few days ago, invited Wike to join the party in order to provide qualitative leadership for the party at the state level.
But, the party’s publicity secretary, Darlington Nwauju, in a statement made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday, said those who made the call were imposters and sponsored amorphous groupings acting as fronts for the former governor.
The statement reads in part: “The
attention of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has been drawn to calls by imposters and sponsored amorphous groupings acting as fronts for the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike, that APC in Rivers State is calling on him (Mr Wike) to join the same party he had characterised as suffering from cancer.
“Nothing can be more preposterous than this kite being flown by minions of Wike working hard to justify their pay cheque.
“We wish to unequivocally dismiss any such rumour or sponsored story planted in any medium that Rivers State APC had at any forum invited Mr Wike to join our party none the least calling on Wike to take over leadership of a party he never campaigned for.
“We dare anyone to provide video evidence of any campaigns where Mr Wike openly campaigned for the APC. The terror unleashed on our party members in the cause of his eight years maximum rulership alone is enough evidence to confirm that Wike has no business with Rivers State APC.
“Asking him to come and take over is asking an enemy to come and finish off his victims.
“We are aware of his schemes to escape justice over the looting of the collective patrimony of Rivers people which is the major reason for his romancing top APC members.
“For those who may be suffering from amnesia, a none APC member cannot be cheerleader for the entry of Wike into APC. Nobody can decree his membership of a political party through radio or newspaper publications. All vexatious attempts at distracting our party in Rivers State will keep failing.
“For the avoidance of doubts, the APC in Rivers State has a legally recognized state office where all official businesses are conducted. We do also have standard procedure for convening our meetings according to our party’s constitution.
“Therefore, it is expedient for the public to be aware that village meetings or gatherings cannot equate with a stakeholder’s meeting of APC in Rivers State, especially a gathering that took place at a hotel belonging to such a non-APC member.
“We therefore disassociate the leadership of our party from any so-called stakeholders meeting suggesting that our party be handed over to Mr Wike.
“We reiterate our party’s resolve to lend 100% support to the policies and programmes of the Federal Government under the indefatigable leadership of our President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR.
“We warn blackmailers and conflipreneurs to desist from the shameless tradition of using the name of our party to curry favour from desperate politicians seeking relevance at the centre.”
