The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked claims by Governor Nyesom Wike at a thanksgiving service held at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Okrika where he suggested that the present government in Rivers State inherited a high level of insecurity.

A statement issued on Monday in Port Harcourt by Rivers APC Chairman, Chief (Dr) Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, stated: “Ordinarily, the APC would have ignored the statement but for the perplexity and surprise that much of the print and electronic media, who themselves as chroniclers of history, have expressed over the statement hence the need to straighten the records.”

According to APC, “Before Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi assumed office as governor of Rivers State in October, 2007 the art of citizens raising their hands up on the streets as ordered by security agents was a recurring daily exercise in most parts of Port Harcourt and environs; and this was due to the pervading insecurity across the state then. However, on assumption of office, the former governor announced to Rivers people and the criminals that his administration would pursue a vigorous zero-tolerance policy on insecurity and criminality.

“A few hours after being sworn in as governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi set up a vibrant security council and took the offensive to the criminal dens and black spots across the State. The then warlords in Marine Base, Okochiri, Omoku, Ahoada, Abua, Asarama, Yeghe and elsewhere came under serious security actions. In a few months time, their ranks were decimated while their leaders scampered off into oblivion. The little criminals amongst them started taking advantage of more noble opportunities to live normal lives. Former President Yar’Adua’s Amnesty Programme equally came in handy for the ex-militants and their leaders. By 2009, Port Harcourt and most parts of Rivers State were effectively out of the grip of criminal elements.

“However, as political activities gained momentum in 2014, words had started coming out of how the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was activating dismantled criminal gangs and rehabilitating the former warlords with the intension of acquiring their services of violence for use in the 2015 elections.”

The APC also alleged that “As campaigns intensified between 2014 and 2015, candidate Nyesom Wike and the PDP formalised their strategy by openly visiting the ex-militant leaders in Okochiri, Yeghe, Degema and elsewhere. The media feasted on the pictures of those visits without knowing the intensions behind the visits. However, the APC shouted to the high heavens that already disbanded criminal gangs were being re-assembled by the PDP and its governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike but the party was ignored.

“As elections approached, the various gangs, re-assembled and armed by the PDP, received their green light and the killings started. Rivers of Blood was born! The rest is now history.

“It is important to state that on the day Gov. Nyesom Wike was sworn in May 29, 2016, the various criminal and cult groups appeared in various cult colours and carried out procession on the streets of Port Harcourt as if announcing that they were now legitimate groups that they have won their legitimacy by facilitating and winning power for their own, the governor.

“Having been sworn in, Gov Wike, in earnest, set about dismantling and obliterating the carefully organised security architecture put in place in Rivers State by his predecessor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Significant amongst such actions was the dismantling of the highly effective Israeli-trained C4i unit that had put crime especially kidnapping in check prior to that time.

“Of late, we have watched as Gov. Nyesom Wike amuses himself about taking away the guns he gave to his foot soldiers to kill and maim for him to become governor. But what he is doing is the height of dishonesty. We ask: how do you grant amnesty to a people before retrieving arms from them?

“The truth remains that governor Nyesom Wike and the PDP created the Frankenstein Monster of insecurity troubling innocent Rivers people and residents of the state and they are too dishonest to accept responsibility for their actions and ask for forgiveness from God – not even when they are in the house of God.

“The APC believes that the rest of Rivers people and much of the world know the facts; needless re-emphasising it at this point. However, when those who are responsible for the insecurity bedevilling Rivers State boldly turn up in churches, look at God in the eyes and tell lies taken from the very depth of hell where Satan holds court, we cannot but state the facts for the benefit of the unsuspecting audience and posterity.”

•Photo shows Governor Wike.

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