Rotimi Amaechi
Rivers APC urged Nigerian to resist plot to derail nation’s democracy.Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s Chief of Staff, Tony Okocha, has guaranteed that the governor would complete his tenure despite alleged plot by six members of the State House of Assembly to unseat him.
Mr. Okocha said for as long as Rivers people remained behind the governor, resolute in defending the mandate they gave him, it would be impossible to oust him.
He also said the All Progressives Congress, APC, would win the 2015 governorship election.
Mr. Okocha stated this when he played host to the APC Youth League, Rivers State Chapter and Igbo Professionals in Rivers State who paid him a solidarity visit in his office in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Wednesday.
There are alleged moves by some politicians in Abuja to instigate six lawmakers led by Evans Bipi to impeach Mr. Amaechi following the successful removal of his Adamawa State counterpart, Murtala Nyako from office on Tuesday.
Mr. Amaechi, just like Mr. Nyako, is a member of the APC.
Mr. Okocha vowed that what happened in the north-eastern state would not be repeated in Rivers State as the majority of lawmakers who are loyal to both the APC and Mr. Amaechi would not give in to the pressure like their Adamawa counterparts.
He said the efforts by the Abuja-based politicians and the six lawmakers would come to nothing since the majority of the members of the Assembly had resolved to swim and sink with the mandate of the Rivers State people embodied in the governor.
“I wish to assure all APC faithful and the entire good people of Rivers State that they should continue with their normal business activities as no effort by some unscrupulous undemocratic elements will succeed in thwarting or tampering with the mandate they freely gave to Governor Amaechi as I am very convinced that we are capable and ready to defend the mandate no matter the odds,” Mr. Okocha said.
Mr. Okocha told the two groups that with the feats recorded by Mr. Amaechi in the areas of education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and good governance, the APC was a sure bet to retain the governorship seat of the state, not minding the resolve of the PDP bigwigs to
resort to rigging and intimidation.
He stated that the people of the state would vote against the opposition party in the state.
Earlier, the leader of the APC Youth League, Hart Lawson, told the Chief of State that his group paid the visit to assure Mr. Amaechi that it was behind him,
“We are here on behalf of the good people of Rivers State to assure our performing Governor of our unflinching support and readiness at any time to defend and protect the mandate we freely gave to Governor Amaechi,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state chapter of the APC has described as “shocking and retrogressive,” the impeachment of the governor of Adamawa State.
“We never thought that Adamawa State lawmakers would allow external forces to cause them to impeach a Governor that was not only duly elected but also enjoyed the overwhelming support of the people of Adamawa State just to satisfy the selfish and evil plots of undemocratic elements operating from Abuja,” the chairman of the chapter, Davies Ikanya, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“To us, this is a retrogressive development aimed at rubbishing a man who has sacrificed so much for the unity and progress of Nigeria as a nation.”
The party said it was a pity that Mr. Nyako paid for the sin of spearheading the election of President Goodluck Jonathan both at the 2011 PDP presidential primary election and the general election.
The APC said, “This is one of the reasons why also Rivers State is under siege for given Mr. President the highest number of votes during the 2011 Presidential election.
“We are not used to crying over spilled milk but we will like to assure Adamawa people that we are solidly behind them, not minding the efforts of some undemocratic forces to put our democracy in danger.
“Impeachment is a normal exercise in any democracy but any induced impeachment like that of Adamawa State is condemnable. It beats my imagination why the PDP-led Federal Government should be putting our democracy in danger by luring and forcing some disgruntled and
misguided lawmakers to be making efforts to impeach Governors of only APC-controlled states.
“The cases of Edo and Nasarawa states readily come to mind. The world is watching and let us sees where all these rascality acts will lead us to as a nation.”
The APC asked Nigerians to be on guard so as to resist plots by some elements to collapse the nation’s democracy “just because of their desperation to install President Jonathan for a third time as the President of Nigeria against the letters of our Constitution that says
that nobody should act as a President for more than eight years.”
It further warned, “Should these elements succeed in their evil plot, they will be making President Jonathan to preside over this nation for over ten years and maybe thereafter make him a life president.”
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