THISDAY

Stop blaming APC for your failures, Amaechi tells Wike

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The leader of the All Progressiv­es Congress, APC in Rivers State and Minister of Transporta­tion, Chibuike Amaechi has admonished the state governor, Nyesom Wike to accept his failure as the chief security officer of the state and quit trying to pin acts of violence on the APC.

Amaechi spoke at a press briefing in Port Harcourt, Thursday, addressing Wike’s ‘malignant and calculated outburst’ alleging that the APC intends to visit violence on the state. Governor Wike had in his state broadcast on Thursday evening accused Amaechi and the APC of plotting to incite violence in the State. Wike also tried to make political capital of the stampede that led to the death of some persons at the APC Presidenti­al rally in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

Amaechi said, “I listened to our governor today. Again, like the child he is, rant and say we intend to visit violence on the people. All of you who have worked with me would know that I don’t like violence, because if you kill someone, you cannot replace him, you can’t bring him back to life. You can replace houses, you can replace cars and all that... You certainly can’t replace life.

“We lost 15 persons. I was touring people’s houses, trying to identify with their pain. If the governor can remember when President Goodluck Jonathan came here and we lost 23 Nigerians in Rivers State, the same stampede, I couldn’t eat. I was watching them take lunch, I couldn’t, I was crying because those 23 persons are gone whether for good or bad just like these 15 persons will not come back. So I’ve never and I will never support violence. But I don’t also support injustice.

Amaechi wondered why Wike is ‘trying so hard to avoid elections and enlisting different institutio­ns to aid his cause. He also called on INEC to exonerate itself from being accused of trying to help the PDP by doing the needful and obey the stay of execution order by the court of appeal and relist Rivers APC and its candidates for the elections.

“An example is the fact that there is a stay of execution granted by the court of appeal in Port Harcourt. Just because the INEC chairman was the head of TETFUND under Wike when he was a minister of education, he has refused to implement that judgement. He doesn’t have the right to choose which one to implement and which one not to implement. Obviously, he’ s among the institutio­ns trying to assist W ike become a second term governor without election. We understand, but again, we believe in the judiciary, the uprightnes­s of the judiciary, I hope so, and you heard the President when he said that the injustice will be addressed.

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