The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has apologised to Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, “over the embarrassment caused him by the recent allegation of embattled caretaker governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, that the immediate past Rivers State Government under the watch of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi spent a whopping N82 million to organise a birthday dinner in honour of the revered statesman in the state capital, Port Harcourt.” Rivers APC in a statement signed by its State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya and issued today in Port Harcourt described Wike’s allegation as unfortunate.

“On behalf of the good people of Rivers State, we hereby tender an unreserved apology to Prof. Soyinka and to assure him that Wike’s vile attempt to link him to an imaginary corruption will fail. This accusation is nothing but the ranting of a drowning man looking for whom to pull into the stinking pool but Wike has over-reached himself this time because Prof. Soyinka is globally renowned as a man of unimpeachable integrity who has never been associated with corruption in his over 80 years on earth. The fact remains that Chief Wike is currently in a pit full of faeces, looking for whom he will splatter the faeces and sadly he remembered our revered Prof and as rightly observed by Prof Soyinka in his reaction, Wike is ready to ‘splatter sewage in all possible and improbable directions’,” Rivers APC said.

The party noted that “Wike in his desperation to demonise Amaechi and whoever that is associated with him must have forgotten that his panel of Inquiry that investigated Amaechi’s tenure exonerated him of any financial misdeeds.” The statement made it clear that the great achievements of the Amaechi administration cannot be wished away or cancelled through cheap blackmail.

Rivers APC said “the sad outbursts of Wike made through the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, did not come to the party as a surprise, knowing Wike’s antecedents as a controversial politician.” “For him to try to disparage a respected personality like Prof. Soyinka in this manner only exposes him as a drowning man looking for any tool to stay afloat,” the party said.

The party wondered why Amaechi should spend such a huge sum to host a birthday celebration, asking: “If Wike is sure of his records, why doesn’t he go to court to retrieve the said sum?”

Continuing, the party said: “To us as a political party, it is very sad and unfortunate that Wike and his confused team in their wild accusation failed to appreciate the pivotal role Prof Soyinka played in securing Port Harcourt as the UNESCO World Book Capital City 2014. The feat, which put not only Rivers State but indeed Nigeria on the global map necessitated the dinner in honour of the Nobel Laureate. All said and done we are happy to note that this bare-faced lies deliberately hatched to smear the character and image of the literary scholar as well as the Acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, have failed woefully as Nigerians are gradually coming to terms of what Wike stands for.

The party admonished Wike to stop making a bad name for the state, as he has done enough damage to the general psyche of the Rivers people through his visionless administration which is now in the process of winding up having been declared illegal by the courts, which ordered fresh elections to be held soon to formally bury the Wike administration.”

•Photo shows Prof. Soyinka.

Update news