B
y Sodiq Omolaoye, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has saidcontrary to widely held belief, former Governor Nyesom Wike could not be said to account for the party’s impressive growth.
The state chapter of APC held that it was unfair for President Bola Tinubu to reward the former governor with a ministerial slot. Speaking on national television, yesterday, Rivers APC Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju, claimed the party’s growth owe much toefforts of loyal members, who, mostly, lost their lives in the struggle to ensure a party structure.
Nwauju said it was unfair to reward a man who piloted affairs of the state when the party faced a lot of onslaughts.
According to him, APC’s growth has been organically steady since 2014, when the party came into existence. He said APC leaders in the state, who deemed it necessary to speak to set the records straight, maintained that the party surpassed its votes of 2015 during the 2019 elections, when Wike was governor on the ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He stressed that APC experienced natural internal growth over time due to efforts of party technocrats.
”Our growth patterns have been consistent since the 2015 presidential onslaught against Rivers APC.
”Our growth from 2015 to 2019 was 23.8 per cent, closing the huge gap of the 2015 presidential election.
“Then the 2023 presidential election came in with additional 80,881 votes in the party’s favour.
“The question is: Where is the helping hand of Wike? Can he claim to have helped Rivers APC with only 80,881 votes, when our growth showed it was organic since 2019?”
The group further asked those singing Wike’s praiseto explain where the 1,487,075 votes the PDP gotin 2015,of the 2,537,590 registered voters in Rivers, were.
They also asked where the 472,971 votes the former governor got for PDP in the 2019 presidential election, out of the 3,215,273 registered voters in the state, were.
”Can a non-party man take over a national ruling party in a state, simply because they claim to have helped the party in his state with just 80,881 votes when such claims couldn’t be substantiated with empirical data?”
Credit: Guardian Newspapers
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