VANGUARD
Major stakeholders of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers state, have urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to strongly consider the former governor of River State, Nyesom Wike, in his Ministerial appointments.
The stakeholders under the aegis of Amalgamated Bola Tinubu Campaign Council Rivers State, led by former Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Government and stalwart of the party, Chief Tony Okocha, explained that the call was premised on the ‘enormous’ roles played by Wike which ensured Tinubu’s sustained victory in the state, during the February 25 presidential election.
Furthermore, he called on the general public, at a briefing with pressmen, Tuesday, in Abuja, to disregard what he described as cheap political stunt by presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party, SDP, Magnus Abe, to suddenly take the front seat in Tinubu’s political veranda, after he left the APC at a time he was most needed.
Attributing the victory of the APC in the state to the effort of Governor Nyesom Wike, Okocha also said he played the role of keeping the party together when major stakeholders of the party turned their backs.
He said: “When Ameachi had left, Magnus had left what remained was the little I could control with an amalgamation of support groups. Since 1999, PDP has been in control of Rivers State back to back. Even in 2015, when I was Chief of staff, Ameachi was governor and during that Presidential election, APC scored about 69,000 votes, PDP scored about 2 million votes and we were in charge and he doubled as the DG of Buhari in 2015, in 2019 Wike had become governor, it became even worse.
“In 2015, APC scored 7 percent, in 2019 we scored 5 percent. Then, in 2023 APC is now winning. What was the magic? Wike’s PDP scored 32/32 in the state House of Assembly in Rivers state, Wike’s PDP scored 12/13 of House of Reps seats, Wike’s PDP scored 3/3 of the senatorial seats, Wike’s PDP won the governorship and then Wike’s PDP did not win Presidential election in Rivers state. What happened?
“Is it not the reason that all of us know that the G-5 governors said until things are made right, until power shifts to the south and that until Ayu resigns that they will not work for Atiku. Now, the spin doctor who made sure everything worked out for Tinubu, was Wike…
