Major stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have urged President Bola Tinubu to consider former Governor Nyesom Wike for ministerial appointment.
The stakeholders under the aegis of Amalgamated Bola Tinubu Campaign Council, Rivers State, led by former Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Government and stalwart of the party, Chief Tony Okocha, explained that the call was premised on the role Wike played in Tinubu’s victory during the February 25 presidential election.
Okocha urged the public to disregard what he described as cheap political stunts by the former governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Magnus Abe, in Rivers state to suddenly take the front seat in Tinubu’s political veranda, after he left the APC at a time he was most needed.
Attributing the victory of the APC in the state to the effort of Wike, Okocha said he played the role of keeping the APC together when major stakeholders of the party turned their backs.
He said: “When Ameachi had left, Magnus had left what remained was the little I could control with an amalgamation of support groups. From 1999, PDP has been in control of Rivers state back-to-back. Even in 2015, when I was Chief of staff, Ameachi was governor and during that Presidential election, APC scored about 69,000 votes, PDP scored about 2 million votes and we were in charge and he doubled as the DG of Buhari in 2015, in 2019 Wike had become governor, it became even worse.
“In 2015, APC scored 7 per cent, in 2019 we scored 5 per cent. Then, in 2023 APC is now winning. What was the magic? Wike’s PDP scored 32/32 in the state House of Assembly in Rivers state, Wike’s PDP scored 12/13 of House of Reps seats, Wike’s PDP scored 3/3 of the senatorial seats, Wike’s PDP won the governorship and then Wike’s PDP did not win presidential election in Rivers State.
