The Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned the underserved verbal assaults Governor Nyesom Wike is unleashing on key stakeholders in the March 19 Rivers State rerun elections especially his accusations of partiality against Mrs. Amina Zakari, a National INEC Commissioner and the Nigerian Army.
The APC in a press statement signed by its Spokesman, Senibo Chris Finbone said it finds the accusation by the governor that Mrs. Zakari is on a mission to swap elections results with fake ones as outlandish and coming from a convoluted, polluted and troubled mind that lays claim to being a master of election rigging.
The party reminded Gov. Nyesom Wike that Mrs. Amina Zakari has an excellent record of supervising some of the relatively best elections by INEC in the past and no amount of frustration from politicians with fast declining fortunes and zero moral reputation like Nyesom Wike can tarnish her record or demoralise her spirit in conducting free, fair and credible rerun elections in Rivers State come March 19.
The recent attacks on Mrs. Amina Zakari by Gov. Nyesom Wike according to the APC, “seems to be a corollary to his earlier repeated death threats to INEC personnel when he advised them to write their will before coming to conduct the rerun elections in Rivers State. Therefore, his present vituperation appears to be the beginning of implementing his earlier threat. Wike had this to say yesterday: “All those who plan to swap result sheets, may their souls rest in peace. Nobody will rig in Rivers State.” He did not say that the law will take care of such violators of the law.”
The APC who noted that it abhors and does not engage in rigging and other electoral malpractices, said “our party fails to understand whether it is within the powers of Gov. Wike to apprehend, try and kill suspected violators of the law. What is clear from Wike’s threats is that killings have become his past time and that he can chose to visit death on anyone. Another glaring point from his utterances is that he is unwittingly exposing how he rigged elections in the past especially the 2015 elections. As a result, rigging has become entrenched on his psyche and the eternal fear of rigging throws him into fits of nightmare every now and then.”
The statement read further: “The APC believes that the Nigerian Army has taken due notice of the media war Gov. Nyesom Wike has launched directly and sometimes through paid agents against it just to stampede and demoralise the army from ensuring that criminality is checked in Rivers State. Rather than commend and support the Army for providing support to the Police who appear overwhelmed by the spate of violence by the governor’s supporters, Gov. Wike has decided to orchestrate a campaign of calumny and blackmail against members of the military who put their lives on the line to safeguard the citizenry and make Rivers State safe.
“Members of the APC have watched with consternation as Gov. Wike recklessly insults and assaults the Nigerian Army and sometimes threatening them.
“The APC can only offer Gov. Nyesom Wike a free advice. If he is serious about confronting the army on election day and forcing himself into INEC office, it might be needful for him to WRITE HIS WILL because the Army does not take prisoners very often.”
