The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, yesterday, fired back at Governor Nyesom Wike for labelling his predecessor and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, a “total failure” for perceived inability to attract development to Rivers in over seven years as minister.
This came as prominent South-South leader, His Highness, Anabs Sara-Igbe, lashed out at Wike, accusing him of hatred for the people of Kalabari ethnic nationality and Ijaw nation.
Responding to the governor’s tirade against Amaechi, spokesman for Rivers APC, Darlington Nwauju, said: “The APC is not a shallow ground where people cannot keep records or lacking institutional memory. We are abreast of history as we’re all Rivers people. We know who is who and what is what.
“Our response to Wike scathing remarks against the minister and our party is not to debunk claims, but to rightly lay bare the truth. We are interested in the insinuation that our leader, Amaechi, is a failure and could not attract anything as a minister to Rivers.
“This (Amaechi) is a man that has served Rivers passionately as governor, served as speaker, contributed immensely to success of the APC in Nigeria. There are satisfactory proof that the claim that our leader never did anything to better lives of Rivers people is totally false, sheer blackmail and we as a party will not allow his image to be so smeared.
“Under him, the Afam Fast Power Project: Construction of 186 million, 240MW expansion for the existing Afam Power Plant, commenced in 2016, almost completed.”
On claims by Wike that Rivers APC has become empty with defection of several members to the PDP, Nwauju countered that nothing could be farther from the truth, saying ruling PDP in Rivers has suffered more high profile defections to the APC.