23rd November, 2014
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Rivers has dismissed the call for arrest of Governor Chibuike Amaechi for treason because he warned that if the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, rigs the 2015 election, the All Progressives Congress would form a parallel government.
APC said comments by Femi Fani-Kayode, former aviation minister, that of Dr. Doyin Okupe, an aide to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, and Rivers PDP, were ridiculous and blackmail. The main opposition party said asking the police and military to arrest Governor Amaechi for warning that riggers should be punished was ludicrous.
Rivers APC insist that Amaechi’s statement has been deliberately misconstrued, distorted and misrepresented. The party explained that what Amaechi said was that should PDP use the police and military to rig the 2015 elections against the will of Nigerians, the APC will form a parallel government.
APC wanted to know if the PDP government is plotting to rig the 2015 elections. The party said Amaechi had stated that the idea of distributing rice and beans by some elements in the Presidency that has led to the death of innocent Nigerians should stop. “Is Dr Okupe and his co-travellers saying that we should allow PDP in its mission as Poverty Distribution Party, PDP, to continue unabated?”
APC said Governor Amaechi also advised the Presidency to restore the security aides of the House of Representatives, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal based on court ruling and to reassure Nigerians of its readiness to curb corruption and to stop the wanton killing of Nigerians in the Northeast by Boko Haram.
“Do we assume that Dr. Okupe and disgruntled Fani-Kayode are happy for the daily massacre of Nigerians in the Northeast while their families are well secured in Abuja with public funds?”
APC said Governor Amaechi’s statement was borne out of patriotism and love for the greatness of our nation, arguing that, for Dr. Okupe, Fani-Kayode and Rivers State PDP to describe this honest advice by a concerned Nigerian leader as treasonable and inciting simply demonstrates their ignorance of the tenets of our constitution, frustration and betrays the fact that PDP intends to rig the 2015 general elections and to continue to foist on 170 million Nigerians an unpopular and uncaring government whose acts of impunity and promotion of insecurity and poverty have become legendary.
APC declared it came to that conclusion based on the current rating of PDP as a party of impunity, lawlessness and lack of internal democracy. Nigerians are praying and hoping that these elements will not truncate our democracy before they are duly voted out come 2015.
The party pointed out the shame at the National Assembly and approval of the acts of rascality by the police by Fani-Kayode and Dr. Okupe and by extension the Presidency simply demonstrates that the Presidency of Dr. Jonathan has come to its wits end.
It stated that no sound Nigerian can ever vote for the undemocratic PDP elements currently ruining our beloved country.
It cited the shame that is happening in Ekiti State, where the police and PDP leadership aided seven lawmakers to impeach the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly in a House of 26 members and the likes of Dr Okupe and Fani-Kayode whose acts are very obvious to all Nigerians.
The shameful utterances of Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State describing the opposition as cockroaches that should be crushed! In other words, the distinguished and highly respected General Muhammadu Buhari from Katsina is a cockroach; and Dr. Okupe and Fani-Kayode because of their jaded state of minds are keeping quiet!
APC expresses appreciation that the USA Government and the European Union have condemned Governor Shema for incitement and rascality. According to the USA Government, “We are deeply troubled by Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State’s recent statements calling for the killing of the ‘cockroaches of politics.’ The rhetorical threat of violence undermines the democratic process and is utterly unacceptable in a democratic society.”
We became more than ever convinced that PDP will be voted out in 2015 when President Jonathan on Thursday told a gathering of PDP leaders in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, that people hardly get what they look forward to in life and that, sometimes, things that they did not think about are the ones they gets.
“We are motivated and happy to note that President Jonathan could confess that he never gets whatever he wants. For him to now want to contest the 2015 elections against all good counsel, he should wait to be the first elected President to be voted out of office come 2015.”
The Rivers APC said that Dr. Okupe, Fani-Kayode and their likes are the ones deceiving and compounding issues for Mr. President. The party said it has noted antics of INEC to deny APC controlled states Permanent Voters Cards, PVC, in a bid to rig elections.