The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, on Friday, urged President Bola Tinubu not to fall for the recent show of support by some loyalists of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, saying it was an attempt to sway him into buying their loyalty.
A former Minister of Transportatio and leader of the Rivers chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Abiye Sekibo, had on Thursday, led former PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, and some party chieftains to pledge support for the President and his policies at a press conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.
Other members of the delegation included former governorship aspirant, Celestine Omehia and former lawmaker, Austin Opara.
They also expressed their displeasure at the direction of events unfolding in the state politically, asking the President to caution ex-Governor Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Reacting via a press conference at the party national secretariat in Abuja on Friday, Chairman of Rivers APC, Tony Okocha, told newsmen that he found it laughable that people like Sekibo and Secondus who once described the president with unprintable names in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election could be paying lip service to warm their way into his heart.
While describing them as being clever by half, Okocha warned Tinubu that they are ‘unrepentant PDP praise singers’ who can never forgive him and Wike following the manner they made Atiku lose the last election.
He said, “The undeniable fact remains that all those who lined up at that table are still ardent believers of Atiku Abubakar and lucidly introduced themselves as unrepentant leaders of Atiku’s 2023 Presidential Campaign in Rivers State. Even the flex banner behind the table they sat still carried the picture and name of Atiku Abubakar. It was deliberate and intentional.
“These persons can never forgive Tinubu, Wike and APC Rivers over the sin of their woeful electoral defeat. Of course, it follows therefore that anyone whose action or inaction contributed to their dangerous fall is inadvertently their sworn enemy. No wonder they are surreptitiously targeting to cut out a pound of flesh from the minister of the FCT. “No sane host tolerates a guest who attempts to enter his house through the window when the door is open. We vehemently reject it.
“Nigerians know the scenarios that played out uniquely in five PDP-controlled states in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election and the aftermaths.
“This assembly of protesters did not only vehemently carry out excruciating campaigns against Asiwaju, they trumped up and funded hate speeches against Asiwaju. They promoted the devilish narratives that Tinubu was frail, extremely old, and incapable of presiding over Nigeria, mentally senile, defecates on himself, and so, wears diapers.”
