Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, and the state’s Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Ojukaye Flag-Amachree, yesterday disagreed on an alleged N3.2 billion given to some lawmakers to sponsor their defection and that of Governor Samuel Ortom, from APC.
Flag-Amachree, speaking at the inauguration of unit and ward coordinators of Free Rivers Development Initiative in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, declared that Wike, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor, wooed defectors from APC with N3.2 billion.
Rivers APC chairman said: “Wike has so far spent N3.2 billion to bribe members of the National Assembly and others to defect from the APC. Is that what we asked him (Wike) to do? Many of the APC members collected Wike’s bribe and they refused to defect. That is why Wike is very angry.
“Wike is running a one-man-show government without budget. Rivers electorate will put an end to Wike’s bad governance in 2019.”
Flag-Amachree promised that the governorship candidate of the APC, soon to emerge at its primary election, would occupy the Government House, on May 29.
Wike claimed Ortom, some senators, federal and state lawmakers defected because of the alleged failure of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which is suffocating Nigerians.
Commissioner for Information and Communications Chief Emma Okah, who spoke for the governor, urged the people to ignore the lies of the APC chairman, stressing the allegations lacked logic.
He said: “How would any man imagine that somebody who is being beaten by the rain would have to be bribed before he seeks shelter? In case he (Flag-Amachree) does not know, the APC-led government at the centre has so suffocated Nigerians that there is no way that many of them (APC members) will not seek refuge elsewhere.
“It is important he (Flag-Amachree) comes to terms with the fact that the house (of APC) is falling. A lot of people are aware of it and so the natural thing to do is to seek remedy, succour and protection elsewhere. That is exactly what many of them are doing and that clearly showed in the spate of defections we witnessed at the National Assembly and in some states of the federation.”