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Over 20 governors, ministers and senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) stormed Port Harcourt on Thursday, to ramp up support for the rerun elections on Saturday.
They however but gave hopes on the Calabar-Lagos rail project, the repair of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Ogoni clean-up and other mega projects should the Rivers people vote for the APC.
The assurances were given by Osita Osinachi, national organising secretary of APC, who said the party would bring the modern airport dream that began way back in the Goodluck Jonathan era, Ogoni clean up that failed during the past government, the N726 billion East West Road, Coastal project, etc, would be seriously tackled as soon as the APC gained ground.
Minister of environment, Amina Mohammed, added flavour when he thrilled the huge crowd at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium at Elekahia that the much expected N400 billion Ogoni clean-up project would start early in 2017, saying with APC’s Magnus Abe as senator, the project would be fast-tracked.
The rally, which tried to build up courage in the APC family in the state from fear of violence, was however hyped with counter-charge bolstered by the presence of over 12 governors alone including those from Kano, Ogun, Plateau, Bauchi, Benue and Edo states. Also in attendance were those from Adamawa, Sokoto, Ondo (governor-elect), deputy governors of Edo and Adamawa.
Several serving ministers and state chairmen of APC and members of the working committee of the party, senators and members of the House of Reps graced the rally that lasted almost a whole day but delayed for over five hours.
It was observed that the rally seemed a of show of power and motivation even as some felt it was an intimidation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. The speeches from those who addressed the rally and their body languages seemed to suggest that the December 10 rerun election would hardly be violent-free.
This indication emerged first with the opening prayer made by the immediate past governor of Rivers State and now minister of transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, who in his prayer asked God to reduce the amount of guns in PDP members in Rivers State.
The state chairman of the party, Davis Ikanya, in his welcome address, told the crowd that the PDP in the state was small but had a killer-squad. He told the crowd that Governor Nyesom Wike did not know much about governance and that the APC was on rescue mission to liberate the state from the governor.
Indication that the rerun election may be violent and crisis-prone came when each of the visiting governors urged members of the APC in the state to do the ‘Moses,’ teeth for tat. Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduji of Kano, who is the APC national chairman of the Rivers Rerun Committee, charged the party men to fight back measure for measure at the polls.
Ganduji told his party men to fight back because the party and government at the national level were behind them. He said Rivers State has emerged as the headquarters of corruption in Nigerian and must be overthrown.
Plateau State governor, who said Rivers was his second home said the APC was only on sabbatical and is now awake to action to take over as in Edo and Ondo states and warned that if the people of Rivers State failed to vote APC, they should consider it to have sacrificed the future of the state.
Bauchi governor, Mohammed Abubabakar, said the governor of Rivers State and his henchmen must be chased out. Amina Mohammed, minister of environment, disclosed that the clean-up exercise in Ogoni would kick off early in 2017 and urged the Ogoni to vote Magnus Abe to fasttrack the exercise.
The national chairman of APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, equally charged the crowd to pay the PDP back in their own coins, saying, “Enough is enough. Stand up and fight as men. The federal might is with you.”
