Former Governor of Rivers State and Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has accused his successor, Mr. Nyesom Wike of being a threat to democracy in the country.
He also said the governor remained a threat to free and fair elections in the state.
The ex-governor also stated that the elections in his Ikwerre Local Government Area during the March 19 rerun were inconclusive.
But the Rivers State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, said Amaechi should bow out of politics instead of causing crisis in the state.
Amaechi stated this in a statement released by his Media Office in Abuja on Saturday evening.
The statement was said to be a response to the threats and allegations by Wike that the Peoples Democratic Party won the election in Amaechi’s local government area.
Amaechi said this was so because thugs allegedly sent by Wike violently disrupted the collation of votes for the local government.
Amaechi described Wike as a clear danger and threat to free and fair elections, devoid of violence in Rivers State.
The statement said, “Wike’s riotous comment is disgraceful and shameful. His resort to blackmail, threats and more violence is a clear danger to the practice of democracy, to free and fair elections in Rivers State.
“You would recall that Wike has been threatening INEC and INEC officials. Before the re-run elections, he threatened INEC officials coming to conduct the elections to write their wills before coming as if they were coming to die in Rivers State.
“Sadly, an INEC adhoc staff, a youth corps member was killed, murdered. This is a classic case of the owl crying in the night and the baby not waking up in the morning.
“He threatened INEC before the elections and an INEC official sent to conduct election was murdered on election day, what other evidence do we need to know who is responsible for the death of the INEC official?”
He described Wike as a loose cannon, who he said threatened INEC with violence, ire and brimstone.
He said, “This is intolerable and completely unacceptable. No democracy can survive with Wike’s kind of attitude and disposition to elections. Wike can’t just go on and on threatening crisis, war and more violence just because of his desperation to win elections.”
On Amaechi’s LGA, Ikwerre LGA elections that Wike claimed PDP won, the statement described Wike’s claim as a cheap lie and another cheap attempt by Wike to blackmail INEC to announce an inconclusive election in favour of PDP.
Reacting, Nwanosike, argued that it was wrong for Amaechi to describe Wike as a threat to democracy, adding that Amaechi, who flooded the state with soldiers to threaten the people during the rerun election should wear the tag of a threat to democracy.
He said, “Rather than bow out from politics in Rivers State like former President (Goodluck) Jonathan did, he is still fomenting trouble here and there. If you take a look at those who were shot and killed during the rerun election, you would notice that most of them were card-carrying members of the PDP.”
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