•Denies Amaechi hobnobbing with Atiku

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused Rivers State governor, Barr. Chief Nyesom Wike of planning to run away from the country after the 2023 general elections.

Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a member of APC Legacy Projects Media Team, made the allegation while responding to a statement credited to the Governor Nyesom Wike faction of the Rivers State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the effect that a former Transportation Minister, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was hobnobbing with PDP Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and has thrown his weight behind Atiku’s presidential bid ahead of Saturday’s elections.

The Rivers faction chapter of PDP Campaign Council (PDPCC), through its Director of Publicity and Communications, Chief Ogbonna Nwuke, had alleged that Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi was a member of the ‘wicked’ cabal punishing the people with fuel and naira-swap crises and challenged Amaechi to deny that he was not part of persons making life a nightmare for Nigerians.

Nwuke said Amaechi was also working secretly for the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, alleging the former Rivers Governor recently reconciled with members of the PDP’s Presidential Campaign Council in Rivers.

He said Amaechi has been working secretly and holding meetings with Atiku and others in the cabal to starve the country of the much-needed funds in the name of politics.

Responding to the statement, Eze, the erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), told Nwuke to stop indulging in falsehood but to direct his efforts at encouraging Wike to do way with his idea of bolting away from Nigeria after the general elections but to stay and face the consequences of his actions.

“Instead of digging up falsehood with which to taint Amaechi,” Eze said, “Ogbonna Nwuke and his likes should encourage their Principal to drop the idea of attempting to run away from the country after the elections and prepare for life outside Brick House. Having messed himself up, Wike should stay and face the reality of what he has done to himself.”

The APC chieftain said he “sympathizes with Nwuke who is not in the picture that Governor Wike whom he is defending is looking for a way to run away from the county immediately after the elections are over, knowing the consequences that await him.

“Presently Wike's faction of PDP is in disarray and most of her principal actors like Nwanosike, Ariolu and others have reached out to Senator Lee Meaba and pledged to work for Atiku's victory,” Eze added.

He described as untrue, claims by the Governor Nyesom Wike faction of the Rivers State chapter of PDP that Amaechi, was hobnobbing with Atiku, and has thrown his weight behind his (Atiku’s) presidential bid ahead of Saturday’s elections.

According to Eze, Amaechi remains one principled Political Leader in whose integrity Nigeria prides and could not be caught in the web of political cowardice like Gov. Wike who, he maintained, was clearly playing the ostrich in a clear bid to escape culpability for the mountainous legacy of failure his administration was about to bequeath to Rivers State and her people.

Eze recalled that in 2014, when it was a taboo to be associated with General Muhammadu Buhari and opposition interests, Rt. Hon. Amaechi singlehandedly supported Buhari and in 2015 and 2019, respectively, when he won as President and sought re-election, adding that Amaechi served as Director General of Buhari’s Campaigns and also played roles of that office with the boldest attention and commitment required for the task at the glare of the world.

The party Chief described as vague, the fictitious claim that Amaechi was part of the cabal allegedly responsible for the fuel and cash swap crisis and challenged Ogbonna and his paymaster to furnish Nigerians with detail of roles played by former Governor Amaechi; when and where such roles were played to further the fuel crisis and cash crunch as a weapon against the people.

Eze said there is no validity in Ogbonna’s “irresponsible assertion and that his ill-propelled and unfounded statement was only good to impress Governor Wike who has instructed his likes to use the media to drag Amaechi into their “morally irking, fruitless macabre and catastrophic political voyage.”

Dismissing claims that Amaechi has pitched tent with Atiku, the party stalwart said: “Although every Nigerian reserve the right to association and the PDP presidential candidate was one man who has made adequate preparations and was stocked with the requisite experience and leadership expertise to take the country out of woods, Amaechi, as a loyal party man, has his integrity and public interest to protect and every actions and inactions he has taken are geared towards that direction and particularly guided by the love of country.