Amaechi: A Factor to Determine Who Occupies Aso Rock in 2015 - Ex-New PDP Spokesman

Chie Eze Chukwuemeka

Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, has been described as a strong factor in determining who occupies the Aso Presidential Villa after the 2015 elections. Amaechi, according to former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has over the years acquired the requisite political stature to influence the outcome of the current jostling for who succeeds the outgoing President of the Federation, President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Although Amaechi is eminently qualified to be President and would make a good one if given the opportunity, his preoccupation at this moment is to flush out the evil regime of PDP come 2015 but if the All Progressives Congress (APC), of which he is one of the pillars, decides to support him for any elective post, so be it,” Eze said in a statement in Port Harcourt.

Chief Eze, a political ally of Rt. Hon. Amaechi, described the Governor as a political genius with a Midas touch. “His mobilisational and organisational expertise account for why he has been able to serve as a two-term Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), his feats as Rivers State Governor and APC’s deep penetration of Rivers State and other parts of the South-South in so short a time. Amaechi’s key roles in stabilising and repositioning APC and his contributions towards the growth of the party speak eloquently of his relevance,” Eze said. 

The Ex-New PDP Spokesman opined that a ticket of retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Amaechi is the best APC could possibly present for the 2015 presidential election but quickly added that it is left for the party’s delegates and leaders to do the right thing with regard to who flies the party’s flag in the election.

“I have read a lot about a probable Muslim-Muslim ticket in the party but that is not advisable in the present circumstances in the interest of a united Nation and mission to rescue Nigeria from the shackles of the impunity experts in PDP ruining our nation. The winning ticket is one that features a strong candidate of Muslim extraction and a strong candidate of Christian background. A Buhari-Amaechi ticket would just be perfect. I don’t see how Goodluck Jonathan and whoever is paired with him can survive in a free and fair contest against Buhari and Amaechi,” Eze said.

He pointed out that APC stands on a two-legged stool – Legacy Group and New PDP Group. According to him, “We of the New PDP Group have conceded the National Chairman’s seat to the Legacy Group (Chief John Odigie-Oyegun) and if Buhari, who is also a member of the Legacy Group, gets the ticket, then it becomes imperative that we in the New PDP must be given the Vice President’s slot. However, if Atiku Abubakar or Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso who are also members of the New PDP gets the ticket, we of the New PDP family should graciously concede the VP ticket to the Legacy Group in the spirit of equity, justice and fairness which are the principles in which APC was established.”

The above calculations notwithstanding, Eze further counselled that it is imperative that the APC Leadership must unite to rescue our nation from the hands of the evil cabals that have hijacked governance in the country? “The fate of our country can only be ratified and put back on track if APC Leadership and members unite to get PDP sacked by 2015. If not, the woes ahead on all of us may not be described. We have done too much talking! The fact remains that should APC lose out in the 2015 general election, but God forbid, the true colour of President Goodluck Jonathan will be revealed to Nigerians. And the heat may be unbearable. The ball is now in the court of APC leaders to do that which is necessary to rescue our dear nation from the imminent doom that awaits her, should we fail in this mission”.

Eze congratulated Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal the Speaker of the House of Representatives for his statesmanship conduct by withdrawing from the Presidential race of the party to ensure that we as a party unites to rescue Nigeria from the hands of misguided PDP Leaders holding our nation hostage. He urged all APC members to emulate and compact themselves with the wise counsel contained in the Speaker’s speech, “To all my associates, colleagues, friends, admirers across Nigeria who have faith that I am that instrument for the change we all desire, I assure you that your faith is not in vain, it is noble and will endure until this great nation of ours is rescued from the clutches of institutionalized corruption, gross incompetence, greed and divisiveness. I charge you to be comforted that your strength lies not in the limited capacity of a single leader, but rather in the collective capacity of the millions of great citizens of this nation. One day, and I believe not too long away, this formidable collective capacity will be ignited and the good Lord will lift Nigeria high up where she belongs.”

Rivers APC Clears the Air Why Amaechi Dumped PDP

Warns Blackmailers

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has cleared the air on why the State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi dumped the ‘tattered umbrella’ of the doomed Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and embraced the ‘revolutionary broom’ of APC despite having spoken negatively about the APC symbol in the past.

The party warned blackmailers who are so frightened by the high rise of the national political profile of Governor Amaechi and are desperate to bring him down by attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill to look for something better to do as Rivers people and, indeed, Nigerians are too politically advanced to be easily deceived by unserious minds that clutch at straws in their quest for political relevance.

Rivers APC said in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by the State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya: “There is a time and season for everything under the sun, as the Holy Book rightly says. It is disgraceful that empty minds that cannot stand the rigours of intellectual political debate are making so much fuss about a 2011 statement credited to Governor Amaechi to the effect that ‘those who carry brooms are night soil men and juju priests’.   

“Like the true African that he is, Amaechi was speaking in parables but suffice it to say that he did not in any way contradict himself by later dumping the torn umbrella of the doomed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the clean-sweeping broom of the APC.”

Rivers APC insisted that Amaechi was 100% right in his 2011 statement and had to take his leave from the PDP when the mess by the PDP-controlled Federal Government under the watch of President Goodluck Jonathan became an unmistakable threat to the very survival of the country, thus leaving all patriots with no other option than to join the league of proverbial night soil men. 

“The mess by the PDP-led Government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as manifested in monumental corruption, suffocating insecurity and strangulating economic hardship is such that every Nigerian patriot needs to carry brooms to flush out this evil party and clean up the country for the sake of present and future generations. There is no gainsaying that going by the present sorry state of Nigeria, the country desperately needs good night soil men to clean up PDP’s faeces. Indeed, it is time for all those who truly love Nigeria to bring the brooms out and get down to work with APC’s broom revolution as we seek to bring about change after forming the next government in 2015,” Rivers APC said.

The party berated the faceless Association of Concerned Indigenes of Rivers State and other faceless groups being promoted by the Presidency and Rivers State PDP Leader, Nyesom Wike, “for wasting billions of taxpayers’ money on a worthless advertorial in some National and Port Harcourt based papers in its doomed propaganda campaign that can only make Governor Amaechi and APC stronger as they work to salvage Nigeria from the evil grip of PDP.”

The party advised Wike and his cohorts to find so

mething better to do as nobody is interested in their childish propaganda campaign which was doomed to fail from the very beginning.

Now, They Have Set Our Dear State on Fire

Now, They Have Set Our Dear State on Fire

It is with sombre heart filled with sadness that the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress [APC] received the gory news that the in-fighting in the Rivers State chapter of the PDP has snowballed into the setting on fire of one of the prime properties of the government and people of Rivers State which serves as the state secretariat of the PDP.

The APC recalls that it warned Rivers people that there is a calculated attempt by the powers that be to first of all strangulate Rivers State economically and socially and then finally set it on fire to complete their strategic plan to politically and physically obliterate Rivers State from the Nigerian map. Their evil scheme has finally become public knowledge early this morning as men of the Rivers State Government Fire Service are battling to contain the fire at the PDP state secretariat ostensibly carried out by a faction of the party.

The APC would like to urge well-meaning Rivers people to immediately intervene and prevent our dear state from being burnt down and destroyed by evil men who want political power as a matter of life and death.

Chris Finebone

State Publicity Secretary

Governor Orji's Achievements Too Intimidating For His Critics

Governor Orji's Achievements Too Intimidating For His Critics

By Madubuko Hart

The bright Chief Press Secretary to Abia State Governor, Mr. Charles Ajunwa has recently said that the government in Abia State has acted very well, owing to the numerous touchable and confirmable projects that Governor Theodore Orji has done in the state and is still doing.

Ajunwa has directed that common sense, common honesty and common decency would make anybody to see the “Legacy Projects” of the present government which have made Abia a better society. He has asked persons and groups using sentiments against the government of Governor Orji in order to mislead the unsuspecting public to stop forthwith.

He averred that there are many misinformations in some media outlets which were meant by some persons and groups to misdirect the society. Hence, he has advised those who are in this habit to look for a profiting job and leave Governor Orji out of their maliciousness. He has also worried that he would not understand the gains some persons make by attempting to blackmail the governor's government.

It could be recalled that Ajunwa in July this year challenged critics of the governor for a debate on Governor Orji’s creditable achievements. Ajunwa made it clear that the governor does not condemn criticism, but that critics should be constructive in their arts, not destructive.

He had expressed shock that some individuals and groups out of hatred that does not meet the eyes, are bent on discrediting all that the governor is doing. Hear Ajunwa: “They are not doing it with honesty or pointing out any alternative. They are bereft of ideas but just want to make noise to attract attention. Abians see them as nuisance and of course in democracy you have to tolerate their nuisance value.

“They have sworn to destroy through propaganda, all that the governor has put in place that has positively changed the face of Abia. But I can tell you the governor is not bordered and has never lost focus on what he wants to achieve and where he wants to leave Abia by the time his tenure expires.”

Ajunwa believes that the achievements of the governor are so intimidating and this has brought envy on critics and detractors alike to drive crazy. Ajunwa believes that there is no sector in Abia State that anybody can fault the governor’s performance by way of infrastructural provisions or otherwise.

He says that there is no sector that is neglected and he stands to be challenged. He believes that if opinions of people in the state should be taken judiciously, people are ever-ready to tell the world that they have not had it as good as they are having it in the government of Governor Theodore Orji.

An example to start with, he said, is that Abia is a safe haven for investors as residents can now sleep with their two eyes closed. In his calculation, Ajunwa says that there is no part of the state that one will not see newly constructed roads, schools, rural electrification, but the critics of the government say nothing is happening in Aba; but they forgot that the Osisioma depot that was moribund for years has been revived and is on stream today, not even as a sizable number of Abia youths have been profitably employed there.

Giving insight on the governor’s achievements, inter alia, Ajunwa has said that in the area of health, there is the Abia State Specialist and Diagnostic centre with all the state-of-the-art paraphernalia which is among the best in West Africa. Again, there is the Amachara Specialist Hospital an annex of Diagnostic Centre where you have a chest specialist centre; there are nine 100-bed hospitals in all the three senatorial zones within the state, there are over 710 health centres, well equipped scattered all over the state.

So, he would not understand the justification with which detractors were measuring development in Abia State. Ajunwa expresses concern that for those with the thought that the governor has done nothing in the state, should pick up their viewing lens and see that Ochendo has left landmarks that are visible and verifiable in all sectors and that the government was ready to challenge critics anywhere, on radio, on television through any debate to showcase what the government has done as well as projects waiting for commissioning in the areas of agriculture, tourism, youth and women empowerment, housing, and so on.

Hart writes from Lagos