On Thursday, some APC leaders in Rivers State claimed that Nyesom Wike, the former governor of the state, joined the party to preserve his political career.
They added that the former state minister for education was not to be credited for the party’s expansion in the state.
The Rivers State chieftains claimed in a statement issued on their behalf by the APC’s state publicity secretary, Darlington Nwajulu, and provided to our correspondent in Abuja, that the formation and expansion of the party in the state required “the efforts of several loyal members, who mostly lost their lives in the struggle to ensure a solid party structure in the state.”
The leaders of the party also pointed out that it was unfair for President Bola Tinubu to honour a man who oversaw affairs while the party was subjected to numerous attacks in the state.
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“Our growth from 2015 to 2019 was 23.8%, bridging the enormous gap from the presidential election in 2015.” The APC then received an additional 80,881 votes in Rivers State for the 2023 presidential election.
“The question is, where is former Governor Wike’s helping hand? Can he honestly say that he helped the Rivers APC with only 80,881 votes, considering that our growth has been organic since 2019?
The chieftains questioned, “Can a non-party man 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 by empirical data?”
The party leaders also mentioned Wike’s decision to pitch tents with the APC in order to save his political career.
“There is evidence to show that Wike did not work for the APC,” they declared. He made the decision to join the APC after learning that his political career was over in order to have a safe haven from which to rob the APC in Rivers State.
