The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State Chapter, has dismissed rumours of a brewing crisis among its ranks, declaring that the party remains focused and united more than ever, as none of its leaders is fighting with another. The party specifically declared that there is no iota of truth in the rumour of disaffection between its governorship candidate in the 2015 election, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, and the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari.

“This satanic rumour originated and being spread by the Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a wicked lie from the pit of hell and has no foundation whatsoever. We urge our teeming members and supporters, as well as the good people of Rivers State and the general public to totally ignore it as it is a desperate strategy by the floundering PDP to shore up its image ahead of the forthcoming Assembly re-run elections, for which PDP has become jittery because of the imminent defeat staring it in the face,” Rivers APC said in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya.

The statement issued Friday in Port Harcourt laughed off “the unintelligent attempt by Rivers PDP to blackmail Mrs. Semenitari for accompanying the visiting Senate delegation to the Niger Delta on a courtesy visit to Governor Nyesom Wike at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.”

“How can the performance of a simple official duty by the Acting NDDC Managing Director amount to disloyalty to APC and a fictional quarrel with Dr. Peterside over the 2019 governorship ticket?” Rivers APC asked. “Many of the Distinguished Senators whom Mrs. Semenitari escorted to the Government House to see Governor Nyesom Wike are also APC members, so does their visit mean that they are also disloyal to the APC?” the statement asked.

It dismissed the rumour as a poor hatchet job by Wike and PDP’s propaganda team to cause disaffection among the Rivers APC leadership, adding, however: “This plot is dead on arrival because we are too intelligent and too close-knit a family to be deceived by such a fallacious and wicked falsehood intended to distract us from the urgent task of winning the forthcoming State and National Assembly re-run elections.

“Mrs. Semenitari is an accomplished administrator who knows where to draw the line between her official duties and politics. As head of NDDC, she has a statutory role that covers the six states of South-South that includes Rivers State plus the two states of Abia and Imo in the South-East and Ondo State in the South-West. The Senate is probing the 16 years of NDDC and if the investigating Senators are to visit the Rivers State Governor on issues pertaining to NDDC, are we saying that the Acting NDDC MD should not accompany them because she is an APC chieftain even while most of the Senate Committee members are also APC members?

“For the avoidance of doubt, Rivers State APC Leadership, including Dr. Peterside, is happy with Mrs. Semenitari and proud of her, as her commitment and loyalty to the APC cause has never been in doubt. She has been one of the arrow heads of this struggle and one of the most persecuted among us. As a matter of fact, she was the only one invited to appear before the then dreaded National Security Adviser to erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan when the heat was on us at Rivers State. Apart from this, she was one of our Principals targeted to be assassinated by the PDP hoodlums at the Okirika rally attack. Her house in Port Harcourt was attacked immediately Wike took over as Governor and her personal jeep towed away by the Wike regime just to publicly disgrace her. So if anybody is trying to blackmail her for any reason such a person is embarking on a mission impossible.

“It is worth stressing that we have no Dakuku faction or any faction or factions but one united, compact, virile and vibrant Rivers APC under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. As for the purported intrigues about 2019, that does not deserve any attention because it just does not make sense as we cannot start talking about 2019 when we have not concluded the 2015 elections.”

•Photo shows NDDC Acting MD, Ibim Semenitari.

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