Echoes of the political war in Rivers State have continued to reverberate, with the the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council (PDP-PCC), in Rivers State, canvassing for the election of Atiku Abubakar in this months presidential election, again taking on Nyesom Wike, Governor of the state, who has since withheld his support for the project.
The PUNCH, which reports that in a fresh verbal war, the PDP-PCC, came after the governor over the cancellation of the approval granted for the party’s presidential campaign in Port Harcourt, the state capital, all but describing him as coward and lacking in integrity.
Particularly railing against the governor for not naming his preferred presidential candidate in January as he promised, the paper quoted, spokesman for the PDP PCC in the state, Leloonu Nwibubasa, as saying on Wednesday, shortly after he cancelled the approval granted the PDP scheduled to hold on February 11, that the the governor, from all indications, had become increasingly frustrated.
Commissioner for Sports, Christopher Green, in a letter and addressed to the Director General, PDP PCC, Aminu Tambuwal, had announced the cancellation on Wednesday, saying credible information available to the state government showed that the PDP-PCC was working in collaboration with a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state led by Tonye Cole.
Stating that information at the government’s disposal showed that activities of the APC in the state had always been marred by violence due largely to irreconcilable internal conflicts within the party, the statement, said: “The Rivers State Government is unable to risk damage to or destruction of the very valuable and priced asset, the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, which your use of the same in collaboration with your Tonye Patrick Cole APC faction will expose it to. In the circumstance, the Rivers State Government has come to the painful but inevitable decision to withdraw the approval earlier given to you for the use of the stadium and the said approval is hereby withdrawn.”
Nwibubasa, who confirmed the development, while describing the state government’s earlier approval as a Greek gift, said the governor was not a good fighter, who always knew when to quit, adding: “We are not surprised when certain decisions are taken because it all amounts to the fact that the level of frustration is increasing.
“We will only appeal to him that he should return to his party and return to the part of peace. And that is part of honour. No one fights a war and refuses to evaluate the same war, and knows when to call it quits. He is not a good fighter. For the presidential candidate of the PDP, we are very certain that Rivers people are happy with him. They are in love with him and they are going to vote for him en masse come February 25, 2023.”
“His inability to name his preferred candidate as publicly announced in January, again is a pointer to his level of instability and incoherence. It tells of his integrity that he cannot match his words with action. So, for us, it is painful that we have a governor who says one thing and does the other.”
