Some members of the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, of the All Progressives Congress APC, have attributed the victory of APC’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Rivers State to the intervention of Governor Nyesom Wike.
The members of the PCC also said they would support Wike’s preferred candidate, Siminialaye Fubara, as a way of reciprocating the governor’s support during the presidential polls.
The PCC which, yesterday in Port Harcourt, said Wike was instrumental to the success of the APC at the presidential polls, said without the efforts of the governor that their candidate would not have secured up to the 25% vote which is the constitutional requirement expected from the state.
The Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the APC for the campaign in the state and a member of the party’s PCC and Independent Campaign Council, ICC, in the state, Tony Okocha, commended the governor for the support that has given the party victory in the state.
Okocha noted that months before the APC presidential primaries, the team inaugurated structures across the state and canvassed for support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu despite opposition from the leader of the APC in Rivers state.
He claimed that following the bid they were denied access to party revalidation, adding that they were unlawfully excluded from the electioneering processes with impunity without recourse to the spirit and letters of the electoral act.
The APC chieftain alleged that members of the PCC had intended to sabotage the election if not for their dedication.
Okocha noted that in 2015 and 2019 that the APC could not win any election in the state and could not also get 25% of votes for their presidential candidate.
He said: “We note seriously and unashamedly that in 2015 we held the rims of governance in Rivers state as members of the APC.
“We pulled together all efforts individually and collectively, yet we couldn’t secure 25% of the total votes cast for the presidential candidate of our party during the presidential election.
“It was worse in 2019 when we all still working together with a Super Minister, security apparatchik and malleable election personnel, we couldn’t produce the required 25% for our presidential candidate.
“But in 2023, against all expectations, APC Rivers won and secured over 40% of the total votes cast for the presidential candidate of our party.”
“Of tremendous note, is to put on records, the role of Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, a leading member of the G5 Governors (Integrity Group) who not only threw his heavy weight in political maestro and “mannerism “ in support of the APC candidate, but encouraged Rivers people to vote the man who will protect the Rivers interest for the President of Nigeria.
“This to say the least, was the game changer. Thank You, Governor Wike. The political bulldozer.”
