As activities
for the 2019 Rivers State governorship election gather momentum, Minister of
Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, hosted chieftains of Ogoni,
Rivers
State extraction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.
Describing the
meeting as a family gathering, Senatorial Secretary, Rivers South-East
Senatorial Zone of APC, Dr Batom Ndegwe, said the visit was to show solidarity
to the minister and confirm him as the father and leader of the party in the
state.
Reacting to
the purpose of the meeting, former Rivers State Commissioner for Works and APC
National Deputy Publicity Secretary, Victor Giadom, dismissed insinuation that
the state chapter of the party was in crisis, insisting that there was no
controversy over who is the leader of the party between Senator Magnus Abe and
Amaechi. He said party faithful of Ogoni extraction and the generality of party
members in the state recognised the transportation minister as their leader.
“You can see
that every member of our party from Ogoni extraction is here today except very
few who are unavoidably absent, but, I am sure what we are doing here has their
blessing also.
“So, we do not
have any division in our party; our party is stronger and we will remain strong
to face the PDP in 2019. It is not disputable who our leader is in Rivers
State..the leader of our party is Chibuike Amaechi. Senator Abe is also a
leader of the party, we are all leaders in the party standing before you, but the
leader of the party in the state is not in dispute,” he said. The party
chieftain also ruled out any automatic ticket for the 2019 governorship
election, revealing that the position of the Ogoni people ahead of 2019 was to
entrench internal democracy.
“Well, you
know politics is a democratic process, whoever will emerge as the gubernatorial
candidate of our party will come out of a clear democratic process. So, we, as
Ogoni people are interested, just like any other tribe in the state, but the
person must come out of a more organised and more transparent democratic
process. Though 2019 is far, what we need to do is to reposition the party in
Ogoni even in the state and that is what we are doing,” he said.
According to the sun news, Giadom accused
Governor Nyesom Wike of making unguarded utterances especially his allegation
that the transportation minister owned the money found by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Osborne Towers.
“It is common
knowledge that the governor of Rivers State has not done well and that is
evident in the state. You can also imagine his response to the Osborne
discovery. Without looking at what the evidence should be, without even taking
his time, he was quick to mislead Nigerians and that is what he has done on
every issue that borders on leadership in our state. Wike is misleading the
state than leading the state,” he noted.
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