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The South-South Zonal Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Blessing Agbomhere, has warned supporters and leaders of the ruling party against hobnobbing with the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, ahead of the 2023 elections.
Agbomhere gave the warning in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday. The party chieftain, who frowned at the perennial romance between the ruling party and the governor, emphasised that Wike needed not be coaxed to join the APC if he was genuinely convinced the APC had done well.
He said, “As a result of our performance, if Governor Wike wants to join the party he must come in through the front door. We will receive him and save him from those he claimed wants to destroy his political future.”
The development is coming barely 48 hours after the Rivers State Governor labelled his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, a failure for not bringing development to his home state as Minister of Transportation.
Wike also knocked Amaechi for saying the Rivers State Government did not give state burial to late four-time Minister Alabo Graham-Douglas, when he himself did nothing when the ailing elder statesman was alive.
An emotional Wike, who spoke at the inauguration of the re-constructed ultra-modern seven-storey office complex in Port Harcourt on Monday, noted that even the Rail Line done in other parts of the country under Amaechi’s supervision, never got to the former minister’s state while he held the position for seven years.
But in what appeared to be a subtle reaction to Wike’s outburst, Agbomere warned stalwarts of the ruling APC to stop hobnobbing with the Rivers State Governor.
The APC zonal scribe expressed concerns that Wike’s frequent invitation to top party leaders of the APC for projects commissioning in Port Harcourt would not project the party well ahead of the presidential and Rivers State governorship elections in 2023.
This was as he lamented that the influx of party chieftains into Rivers State and ‘unhealthy’ romance with Wike were killing the motivation of the APC members in the state.
Agbomere also expressed regret that many of the APC chiefs who had so far visited Rivers State had shunned the prospect of meeting with their leaders and failed to identify with the leadership of the APC during their stay in Rivers State.
“We want to call on the National leadership of the APC to urgently call some party chieftains who are now flocking to Rivers State and maintaining unholy alliances with Wike in the name of commissioning projects, to order.
“While there is nothing wrong with inviting a highly placed personality to inaugurate unfinished projects, everything is wrong if such uncompleted projects are being used as campaign stunts ahead crucial national elections at hand.
“By identifying with an opposition party at this time, such leaders are indirectly de-marketing our great party especially in a state controlled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
“It is unfortunate that the influx of such APC chieftains into the state has proved highly discouraging to members of the Rivers State chapter of the APC who are striving and strategising daily on how to win positions in the state during the forthcoming general election.
“The earlier this unholy pilgrimage of our highly revered party stalwarts to Rivers State is nipped in the bud by the national leadership of the party, the better for the APC’s chances in the forthcoming elections in the state,” he said.
The South-South zonal organising secretary warned that the region was critical for the APC if it hoped to win the forthcoming presidential, governorship and legislative elections in South-South geo-political zone.
“We cannot afford to promote the policies and projects of an opposition ruling party in a state on the one hand and expect to win elections in that state as an opposition party,” he added.
As of the time of filing this report, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, could not be reached for reaction.
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