Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have accused former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike of pitching his tent with the party to avoid political redundancy.
Wike, who still remains a stakeholder of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers, seems to be enjoying respect and influence from both ends of the divide.
He remains the only former Governor who finished his term in PDP, but got a ministerial slot from the APC led administration.
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But this development has not gone down well with leaders of the APC the state, who believe the former Governor is reaping from where he did not sow.
In a statement released by the leaders on Thursday in Abuja, they affirmed that APC’s growth in Rivers had been organically steady since 2015 when the party came into being.
The leaders, who stated this in a statement by Darlington Nwajulu, said the party surpassed its votes of 2015 during the 2019 elections, when Wike was seeking reelection on the PDP platform.
They stressed that APC experienced natural, internal growth over time, and because of the efforts of party technocrats in the state, it narrowed and eventually surpassed the lead that PDP had since 2015.
The statement read: ”Our growth patterns have been consistent since the 2015 presidential onslaught against Rivers APC.
”Our growth from 2015 to 2019 was 23.8 per cent, closing the huge gap of 2015 presidential election.
Then the 2023 presidential election came in with additional 80,881 votes in favour of APC in Rivers State.
where is your helping hand?
“The question is, where is the helping hand of former Gov Wike, can he claim to have helped Rivers APC with
only 80,881 votes, when our growth showed organic growth since 2019?.
They also asked where the 472,971 votes Wike got for PDP in 2019 presidential election out of the 3,215,273
registered voters in Rivers State were.
”Non party man” debate
Can a non partyman take over a national ruling party in a state, simply because they claim to have helped the national party in his state with just 80,881 votes when such claims couldn’t be substantiated with empirical data?
“Such is the calamitous quagmire Wike, and his sponsored detractors have caused to their political dynasty.
“There is evidence to prove that Wike did not work for APC, Wike lost his polling unit and lost his ward.
“When he found that his political career was gone, he decided to pitch his tent with APC, just to have a comfort zone to rob APC in Rivers State.”
The group further cleared the air that the difference between APC performance between 2015 and 2019 was 82,000 votes.
“The difference between 2019 and 2023 is 80,000 votes. None of his so- called PDP members worked for us. Some Labour Party and others did for the PDP in their respective polling units.
There have been no reactions from Wike’s camp as at the time of this report.
