Sheriff is APC agent, says Gov. Wike

By Ihesiulo Grace 14 April 2017 26 No comment

Rivers State governor, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has alleged that the Federal Government was sponsoring the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to destabilise the party.

The governor, who declared Sherriff a mole in the PDP, alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) wanted to use the Chairman because of the destructive crisis that has engulfed the APC at the national level.

He said that despite the Federal Government’s alleged sponsorship of Sheriff to cause crisis in the PDP, party would continue to wax strong.

The governor spoke at the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt on Thursday after receiving 7800 APC decampees who joined the PDP, noting that the machinations of the Federal Government against the PDP would fail.

He described Sherriff as “a mole of the APC who is being sponsored by the Federal Government. They are sponsoring Sherriff because of the crisis in the APC.”

He charged PDP members to relax and wait for God’s intervention.

Wike said that Rivers State has witnessed mass execution of pro-people projects despite the alleged deliberate ploy of the APC and Federal Government to distract his administration.

He said: “The APC has nothing to tell Rivers people on why they should remain in that party. After two years, there is no single Federal Government project in the state.”

Wike said that the defection of APC members to the PDP signals the death of the political party in the state because it was founded on falsehood and deception.

He said: “We were looking for our brothers they kidnapped through lies and deceit. We prayed for our brothers to return and today they are back”.

While receiving the decampees, Wike took time off to berate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing the commission of planning to rig the 2019 election in favour of the APC.

He accused INEC of planning to “rig the 2019 elections in favour of the APC.

“Like I told the House of Representatives, if INEC wants to use the Card Reader to conduct the 2019 election, then it must be Card Reader all the way. If the Card Reader fails to work on Election Day, INEC should postpone that election till the next day.”

“If the Federal Government wants INEC to conduct a free and fair election, then, its standard must be uniform. Nigeria is rich enough to fund any election that was postponed.

The Federal Government should channel all the recovered loot to INEC to enable it to cope with its financial obligations,” he added.

The governor again accused the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, of plotting to assassinate him in power and alleged that the IGP held four meeting with four commissioners of Police in four different states in the country.

He said: “When I said the police is planning to eliminate me, they denied, saying that the Rivers State Police Command deployed 221 policemen to Government House. I knew that they will deny. But I will continue to speak out so that people would know. If they were not planning to kill me, why did they withdraw my security details?

“Will the IGP deny that he did not hold four different meetings with four commissioners of police in four different states? Let them continue to deny. Let me assure all of you that God is in charge of Rivers State. God will frustrate all their evil plans against Rivers state.”
The leader of the APC decampees, Chief Glory Emeh, said that the APC had been decimated due to the performance of the governor. He said that of the 84 leaders in APC in Rivers State, more than half have defected to the PDP.

However, in a swift reaction to the defection, the Rivers State chapter of APC condemned the defection, describing it as part of Project Glory Emeh scam in which all manner of persons were hired and assembled to pose as APC decampees in return for huge pay-outs by Governor Wike to Chief Glory Emeh.

The APC warned that the PDP and “all those behind the ongoing bizarre circus show that we will not hesitate to take advantage of the law to seek redress and criminal prosecution for anyone found to be in unlawful possession of APC materials by non-APC members and those who illegally provided them such materials.”

According to a press statement, the party said: “In fullness of time, APC will present to Rivers people and Nigerians sound, decent and prominent politicians of Rivers State who have and are still abandoning Gov. Wike and the PDP and joining the APC.

The present pedestrian drama will soon pale into insignificance. When the big masquerades enter the arena, small ones that either stole or borrowed their wrappers quickly disappear into the crowd and hide their faces.”