The Rivers State Chapter of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared that it will beat the main
opposition party in the State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ruthlessly
during next year’s governorship and other elections. “We have nothing to worry
about because there is no visible opposition in the State. The PDP, which has
been making noise all over the place, is only blowing hot air and will be
trounced at the polls next year,” Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu
Ikanya, said.
Dr. Ikanya, in a statement
issued Thursday in Port Harcourt, said there was no way PDP could dislodge APC
in the State during next year’s polls. “This assurance has become necessary due
to enquiries by some political observers, who are expressing surprise that APC seems
not to be doing much with regard to campaigns for the 2015 gubernatorial
elections at a time when PDP aspirants have pasted their posters in many parts
of the State, especially the capital city of Port Harcourt. Our party members
and supporters should rest assured that all is well and that we Rivers APC is
ever ready for the 2015 elections,” Ikanya said. He insisted that APC as a
party is divinely positioned to win both the Rivers State governorship
elections and the Presidency.
On why Rivers APC governorship
aspirants have not engaged in a poster war with their PDP counterparts, Dr.
Ikanya said: “Not all APC guber aspirants have been quiet. For instance, the
posters of Hon. Engr. Victoria W Nyeche and the billboards of Elder Chidi
Wihioka are all over the town. We do not, however, consider this necessary in
view of the fact that in APC we are one cohesive, vibrant and united
family, with Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as our leader. We encourage those
interested to run for public office to consult and campaign among members of
the family first to receive their blessings and once they succeed in this
regard, they can then go out to educate the public about their aspirations,
including through posters and billboards. At the moment, most of the aspirants
are involved in what I call in-house campaigns. By next week most of them will
be encouraged by the family to go out for campaigns and people will start
seeing massive posters and billboards all over the place to educate all about
their aspirations.”
On why the party adopted
this strategy, Dr. Ikanya said it was in view of the lack of any strong
opposition in the State. His words: “PDP, which was supposed to be a vibrant
opposition, is now in a sorrowful state with the help of former junior minster
for education, Chief Nyesom Wike, whose imposition as governorship candidate
has rendered the party in the State comatose, even as the 16 other guber
aspirants from the party continue to kick, thereby making the party a laughing
stock.
“The following statement by a political analyst underscores how Wike, former
governor Peter Odili and the family of President Jonathan are helping us so
much in our campaigns: ‘If Wike is allowed by the leadership of the PDP to
emerge as governor of Rivers State, it will mean that for 24 years, the people
of Rivers mainland would have ruled the state at the expense and great
marginalisation of the other major ethnic nationalities’.”
Dr. Ikanya assured Rivers
people that APC will present the best candidates for all the elective posts.
“We are fully aware that Rivers people expect us to form the next government in
the State and we don’t want to abuse this privilege,” he said.
Concluding, the Rivers APC
Chairman said: “APC has been divinely set up to address the evil, injustice and
lack of equity in PDP. Based on this fact we as a party have zoned our guber
slot to the South East Senatorial District. In this regard, as the
government-in-waiting, we have been busy studying the report of the Research
Team we commissioned to produce a blueprint on where we want to take Rivers
State from 2015 to 2019”.
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