- Raises alarm opposition members’ property are targets
- Hotels, centres deployed for thugs recruitment – Gov alleges
BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – The All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised an alarm that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is targeting members of the opposition parties to inflict pain and suffering on them ahead of the 2023 general elections.
However, warning of grave consequences of such actions, the Party is daring the governor to make good his threat of demolishing hotels and entertainment centres allegedly being used to recruit thugs that would disrupt next year’s polls in the state.
According to the APC, it is regrettable that the State Chief Executive, who should be focused on protecting his people and securing their property, has sadly become vindictive, targeting the property of opposition members as well as those within his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that have abandoned him.
The party was reacting to a statewide broadcast by Governor Wike that the government has intelligence reports indicating politicians in the state have allegedly commenced recruitment of cultists and ex-convicts as political thugs for deployment before and during next year’s elections.
Alleging that such recruitment are being held in hotels and other entertainment centres around the state, the governor threatened to demolish such places in the overall public interest.
With a stern warning that his administration would not condone attempts by politicians, their past or present status or political leaning notwithstanding, to disrupt the relative peace the security agencies are struggling to keep in the State, Governor Wike said more drastic action would be taken against accomplices of the criminal plot.
“There would be no sacred cows as we will pull down any hotel or entertainment centres where such gatherings are held”, he said, assuring that the security agencies have been alerted to trail those politicians suspected of recruiting and hiring the thugs.
The Governor, who charged the residents to be more vigilant, extended the State government appreciation to them for fully supporting his administration since assumption of office in 2015.
Reacting to the Governor’s threat, the Rivers State APC Spokesman, Senibo Chris Finebone, said; “This is not the first time the governor has resorted to crude and primitive methods to intimidate and subdue his political opponents if his threat to demolish hotels and leisure places where politicians hold their meetings is anything to go by, having done so during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
In a statement released in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, Finebone further said; “The APC is not surprised at the threat by Gov. Wike. His house (PDP) is crumbling fast right in his face. For obvious reasons, his main men of yesterday have turned political foes today. His entourage has seen faces change over and over again of late. We know his threat is essentially directed at his henchmen who have taken their destinies in their own hands and rebelling against the local potentate. Across the State these men have pitched their tent with Wike’s tormentor-in-chief, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“The APC in Rivers State has news for Governor Wike. He is not in any position to demolish the hotels, leisure places or any property of any APC member in Rivers State under any guise whatsoever. This message should sink in adequately. It is absolutely the choice of his party members to let him repeat his jungle justice on them as the world witnessed during the last pandemic high noon.
“The anarchy Wike will bring upon himself should he attempt it against any APC member will assume the dimension of an apocalypse of immense proportions. We hope the governor takes this warning seriously.”
Also taunting the governor of moving to save his neck after leaving office next year, the statement further said; “As Wike presses on with courting the APC to secure protection after the 2023 general elections, a close ally of the APC Presidential Candidate, Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos and other APC stalwarts will be in Rivers State this week to either commission projects undertaken by Governor Wike or flag off others.
“However, it did not take long for any discerning mind to know that the 19-paragraph broadcast by Gov. Wike is only a knee jerk reaction by the governor to fight back his fear for his own shadow.”
“We want the governor to realize that his time is fast winding up. He should accept this fact and not exacerbate his fate as power and immunity depart from him in a matter of months”, the statement said.
