Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has refuted allegation by former minister of transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, that chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, once worked under him as a minister.

The governor noted that Amaechi’s spurious claim of opposing the reappointment of Yakubu because he was nominated by someone in the President-elect, Bola Tinubu’s camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was tantamount to public incitement and a threat to national security.

Governor Wike, in a state broadcast on the outcome of the March 18, 2023, general elections in Rivers State on Tuesday, said Amaechi’s outburst that the just conducted general elections by INEC was the worst in Nigeria’s history, is ludicrous.

“The truth was that Mahmood Yakubu never worked under me. Both of us worked in the Federal Ministry of Education. He was the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, supervised by the Minister of Education, while I was the Minister of State for Education.

“At any rate, was Mahmood Yakubu INEC’s chairman in the 2015 general elections in Rivers State when we defeated him and his political party as a sitting Governor and Director-General of Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidential Campaign?

“Was it not the same Mahmood Yakubu that conducted the 2019 general election, which the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari won? Was he working for Atiku Abubakar of the PDP when, as a sitting super Minister of Transportation, he could not win 25 percent for President Buhari in Rivers State in the 2019 general election?”

Governor Wike wondered why it took this long for Amaechi , who served as a minister for over seven years under President Buhari to speak out about his opposition to Mahmood Yakubu’s reappointment. He observed that in his frustration, Amaechi had publicly denounced and claimed to know so much bad things about the federal government that he served for seven years.

But, regrettably, Amaechi lacked the courage to tell Nigerians what he claimed to know about Buhari’s government, which he alleged had totally failed.

“In saner climes, law enforcement agencies should have invited such a devious and malignant character for hate speech, public incitement and threat to national security, public safety and order. By his mischievous statements, Rotimi Amaechi attempted to attribute, locate and blame his infamous political failures and frustrations in Rivers State on the INEC’s chairman.”

“In the 2015 general elections, we defeated him as a sitting Governor and Director-General of the Buhari campaign in Rivers State.”

In the 2019 general elections, we beat him as President Buhari’s super Minister and Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign.

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“He could not even influence 25 percent of the votes for his party, even after using the Army to cause mayhem and attempt to rig the election. In 2023, we defeated him as an ordinary person. This shows that Rotimi Amaechi cannot win any electoral contest with us in Rivers State.”

Governor Wike stressed that the outcome of the 2023 general elections in Rivers State has again exposed Amaechi, the APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole and his Social Democratic Party counterpart, Senator Magnus Abe as political paperweights and rejects.

“The APC gubernatorial candidate, Tonye Cole, lost in his Ward and Local Government Area. He lost in almost all electoral units, wards and Local Government Areas of the State. Tonye Cole never ran any effective political campaigns. His party was fractured beyond redemption. He was literarily waiting for his godfather and business partner, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi to magically make him Governor.

“Rotimi Amaechi also lost to the PDP in his community, Ubima, his Ward and the Local Government Area. Both forgot that Rivers people knew them as an evil partnership that diverted the State’s $50,000,000.00 and declined overwhelmingly to vote for them.”

Governor Wike, further said the electoral fate of the SDP candidate, Senator Magnus Abe, who lost woefully in 15 out of 17 wards in his native Gokana Local Government Area, was also not better.

“Magnus’ vaunting ambition was to have a chance to be named on the ballot as a gubernatorial candidate of any party, having twice been denied the APC by his former friend, political leader and associate, Rotimi Amaechi. He achieved this limited and useless ambition when he hurriedly decamped from the APC to the SDP.”

The Rivers State governor challenged Abe to explain to the world his relationship with Lebara Nduh, the INEC Director of Security, who availed him and his supporters with fake INEC security tags.

Governor Wike thanked Rivers voters as the results already announced by the INEC showed that the PDP won 31 of the 32 State House of Assembly constituencies and its governorship candidate, Siminalayi Fubara, had been declared the governor-elect.

Governor Wike has however, extended olive branch to the opposition to move Rivers State forward. According to him, he had also received assurance from the governor-elect of his willingness to work with the opposition to advance the interests of the State.

The governor also appreciated the security agencies’ professionalism throughout the elections and has promised that the State Government will defray the medical expenses of any security personnel injured during the elections.

The Rivers State governor congratulated all PDP governors-elects nationwide for their electoral victories.

He said now that the elections were over, PDP members desperately need to close ranks and work together to reclaim, rebuild, and reposition the party based on equity, fairness and justice to serve and advance the country’s unity, security, and progress. (THE SUN)

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