BATTLE OF SUPREMACY: Wike, Amaechi at war over Rivers rerun poll

The raging political battle between the River state governor Chief Nyesom Wike, and the Transport Minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, continued at the weekend as both political bigwigs expressed optimism that their camps would clinch victory in the rerun elections in the state scheduled for December 10.

The state governor, Chief Wike, declared that the perceived enemies of the state would be disappointed by the outcome of the election, despite their alleged negative plots against the state.

This was just as Chief Amaechi said that the party was sure of clearing the votes in Ogoni land.

Governor Wike was speaking during the 2016 Super Sunday Service of the Christ Apostolic Church at Emohua, in Emohua local government area of the state. He noted that “the enemies of Rivers state are working hard to stoke violence in areas where the rerun elections will hold. I have to come to formally report to God that the enemies of the state are back. The way they were humiliated in 2015 and March 19, 2016 is the way they would be humiliated on December 10, 2016.”

However, speaking at a rally in Bera community in Gokana Local Government Area, on Saturday, Amaechi, the immediate past governor of the state, said winning in Ogoni and Rivers South East Senatorial District, where Senator Magnus Abe would contest the election, has already been foreclosed considering the support the party is said to be enjoying in the district. According to him, the contest would exist only in Ikwerre and Ahoada areas.

“If there is one place that APC should win it is Ogoni. But Wike says he must win here. He is not God and since he is not God, he will fail. The battle is not here at all. The battle is in Ikwerre and Ahoada axis. So, he had better forget here”, the transport minister stated.

The former governor said that the support of the Ogoni district stemmed from both developmental projects he cited in the area and appointments given to sons and daughters in the area while he was governor.

He, therefore, charged Governor Wike to equal his achievements in Ogoni land or supersede them, as he reminisced the number of indigent persons in the area given scholarships to study abroad while he was governor.

“But they were heartlessly repatriated by Gov. Wike. He could not take your children to overseas. Instead of taking them there, he returned them to Nigeria. Poor innocent children, poor children of poor families,” he lamented.

The minister urged the people to turnout massively to vote for APC, assuring them of protection against threats from the governor, adding that the governor’s threats should not be ignored as his utterances and “actions depict him as a thug capable of doing anything.

“It is only a thug that can stand in front of a judge’s gate and be struggling with security men. A governor will go back to his house and call the president. When the SSS invaded the Presidential lodge of the Akwa state government house, the governor didn’t go to the gate. He called the President. And they were asked to return to Abuja. Instead of this one to call the President, what did he do? Go and fight. Only a thug can do that.

“In all the fight I had with the federal government with former President Goodluck Jonathan, nobody saw me physically battling with anybody. When I became governor, there were so many people appointed by Governor Odili.

There were so many businesses by Odili’s people. Did I stop any? No. Wike doesn’t know what it is to govern,” the former governor said.

Amaechi alleged that although Wike could talk tough but inwardly was a coward and berated Wike for allegedly “rewarding criminals who helped him to rig the elections thereby jeopardizing the security of the state.”