The Rivers State chapter of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, has said no politician can win the 2027 election through boasts, intimidation or promises to voters.

The party was reacting to a statement credited to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, during a civic reception organised in his honour by the City Boy Movement at Omagwa on Saturday.

Wike was quoted as saying that the ADC vice-presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, would be defeated by noon on election day.

Reacting in a statement issued on Monday in Port Harcourt, the state chairman of the ADC, Dr Chukwudi Dimkpa, said elections were determined by voters and not political declarations.

“Elections are not won by boasts, intimidation or political strongmen announcing results in advance. Rivers people will vote, the votes will be counted, and INEC, not Wike, will declare the winner,” he said.

Dimkpa also criticised the civic reception held at Omagwa, alleging that it was inappropriate for the event to take place along the route to Amaechi’s mother’s burial in Ubima.

He alleged that Wike and the chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Charles Wobodo, used the occasion to engage in political attacks against Amaechi.

“On a day when Rotimi Amaechi was burying his mother and people from across Nigeria were travelling to Ubima to commiserate with the family, Wike and the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area chose that same route and occasion for a political reception,” Dimkpa said.

He described the development as “insensitive, provocative and embarrassing.”

The ADC chairman said there was “a time for politics and a time for humanity,” adding that his party had chosen not to respond to the alleged provocation on Saturday because its attention was focused on Amaechi’s family.

“We refused to dignify the provocation with a response that day because our attention was on giving Mama, Dame Ezinne Amaechi, a befitting burial.

“But Wike should understand that Rivers State belongs to all of us. Nobody owns the people, nobody owns their votes, and certainly, nobody can declare an election result by 12 noon,” he said.

Dimkpa urged Rivers residents not to be intimidated by any politician, but to participate in the 2027 election and vote for candidates they considered capable of improving their lives.

Wike had told his supporters at the reception that candidates endorsed by the Rainbow Coalition would win the 2027 elections. (Vanguard)