The Rivers State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has fired back at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, over his boast that former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi would be defeated by 12 noon on election day.
The party declared that Rivers elections could not be won through boasting and intimidation.
It also accused Wike of taking his political rivalry with Amaechi too far, describing his conduct during a civic reception organised in his honour at Omagwa on Saturday as “political rascality taken too far.”..READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE .
The Rivers ADC Chairman, Dr Chukwudi Dimkpa, in a statement in Port Harcourt, said Wike’s confidence that Amaechi would be defeated barely hours into voting was an attempt to create the impression that the outcome of the election had already been predetermined.
Wike had, at the reception organised by the Rainbow Coalition in Omagwa, declared that all candidates selected by the coalition would win the 2027 elections.
He was also quoted as saying that Amaechi, the ADC vice-presidential candidate, would be defeated by 12 noon on election day.
But Dimkpa said: “Elections are not won by boasts, intimidation or political strongmen announcing results in advance. Rivers people will vote, the votes will be counted, and INEC, not Wike, will declare the winner.”
He said: “On a day when Rotimi Amaechi was burying his mother and people from across Nigeria were travelling to Ubima to commiserate with the family, Wike and the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Charles Wobodo, chose that same route and occasion for a political reception, obstructing part of the road, creating unnecessary traffic and then turning the event into a platform for attacking and taunting a man who was mourning his mother. It was insensitive, provocative and embarrassing.”
Dimkpa said the development showed that Wike had become incapable of separating political rivalry from basic human considerations.
He said: “There is always a time for politics and there is a time for humanity. If Wike could not suspend his political obsession with Amaechi even for the few hours in which the man was laying his mother to rest, then Rivers people should ask themselves who really is consumed by this rivalry.”
The ADC chairman said his party deliberately ignored the alleged provocation on Saturday out of respect for the Amaechi family and because its attention was focused on giving the late Dame Ezinne Amaechi a befitting burial.
“We refused to dignify the provocation with a response that day (Saturday) because our attention was on giving Mama (Dame Ezinne Amaechi) a befitting burial. But Wike should understand that Rivers State belongs to all of us. Nobody owns the people, nobody owns their votes, and certainly, nobody can declare an election result by 12 noon,” he said.
Dimkpa urged Rivers people to resist every form of political intimidation as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
He said the people must be allowed to freely determine who leads them, warning that no individual, regardless of political influence or status, owns the state or its electorate.
The ADC chairman said Rivers voters would ultimately decide the outcome of the election at the ballot box and called on them to elect credible leaders capable of adding value to their lives.
