The All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, has dissociated itself from the planned visit of President-elect Bola Tinubu to the oil-rich state, on Wednesday.
Recall that the President-elect is paying a two-day visit to Rivers State to commission a flyover and a court building constructed by Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration.
Governor Wike had declared today (Wednesday) as a public holiday, urging the people of the state to turn out en masse to receive the President-elect.
READ ALSO: https://www.thexpressng.com/nigerias-presidential-election-tribunal-begins-hearing-may-8/
In a statement he issued, on Tuesday, the spokesperson for APC in the state, Darlington Nwauju, described the visit as ‘private’ and on the invitation of Governor Wike.
He added that it had nothing to do with the APC in the state.
“We challenge the Governor being an outgoing governor to play less divisive politics and exercise restraint in planting seeds of discord amongst opposition political parties.
“We are aware that the governor has been working so hard to paint a false perception of the collapse of the APC structure in Rivers State even when he had in previous well-documented interviews vowed never to have anything to do with a “cancer party (APC),” Nwauju said.
Governor Wike, a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) backed Tinubu in the presidential election after falling out with his party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
READ ALSO: https://www.thexpressng.com/abia-assembly-suspends-dep-speaker-seven-others-over-failed-impeachment-plot/
Tinubu during his presidential campaign rally in Rivers State paid a visit to Governor Wike in Government House, in Port Harcourt, where the governor bragged that APC candidates in the state would not win the election and advised Tinubu against investing in them (APC candidates).
The APC spokesperson in the state said it was aware of “Governor Wike’s plot to prank our President-elect into believing his false narrative that there is no other opposition political party existing in Rivers State,” and added that “Rivers people already know this is not the correct situation on the ground.”
Rivers APC, Nwauju, said, is “focused on pursuing justice by challenging the outcome of the flawed 18 March elections at the Elections Petitions Tribunal and cannot be distracted by the antics of Gov. Wike and his co-travellers.”
