APC, PDP disagree on Wike’s defection plan

The leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State have disagreed on the move by the state governor-elect, Chief Nyesom Wike, to join the APC.

The Rivers State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Chris Finebone, on Thursday in Port Harcourt, disclosed that there was a subterranean move by Wike to jump defect to the party.

The Rivers Chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, however, dismissed the APC’s claim, describing it as malicious, baseless and a mere wishful thinking of propagators of such falsehood.

Wike, a former Minister of State for Education, was declared winner of the April 11 governorship election in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), while the governorship candidate of the APC, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, has concluded arrangements to file a petition at the state’s election petitions tribunal in Abuja.

Finebone said Wike’s move to defect to the APC was aimed at obtaining the cover of the ruling party in the state and avoid a judicial dethronement.

He said: “Wike’s latest move comes as no surprise to those who know his antecedents. Having back-stabbed his mentors like former Senator John Mbata in the past and more recently Governor Chibuike Amaechi, he would only be living true to the unreliable ally that he has grown to be.

“Wike’s history is replete with sabotage and dual personality, often unstable among peers. So, we are not surprised at his latest move to dump the PDP and join the APC. Such a move portrays him as unstable in relationship, having at several instances, bitten the finger that fed him. He thinks that by hiding under the canopy of APC membership, elders of the APC will prevail on Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, the governorship candidate of the party at the April 11 election, to abandon his quest for justice.”

Obuah, however, claimed that it was most unthinkable that the governor-elect who is also the PDP leader in Rivers State, was considering dumping the party for the APC, saying doing so was like preferring hell, which the APC allegedly represents, to paradise.

He said: “Rivers State is a PDP state, as demonstrated in the just-concluded general election and cannot be betrayed by the leader and holder of its mandate, who has given all he has to ensure the party is not killed by self-seeking individuals, the bulk of whom make up the membership of the APC in the state.

“Rather than do that, the governor-elect, Chief Wike, will do all within his powers to deliver on his electioneering promises to the people to ensure they are not disappointed and to strengthen their support and belief in the PDP.”