Wike Pitched Tent With APC After His Political Career Was Gone – Rivers Party Leaders

• Former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike joined the APC after realizing his political career was over
• APC leaders claimed the party’s growth in Rivers State was organic and not solely due to Wike’s influence

Rivers State leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have stated that former governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, decided to join the party after realising his political career was over.

The leaders also claimed that Wike, the state’s immediate former governor, was not to blame for the APC’s impressive growth in the state.

Wike, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in the state, was recently nominated by APC President Bola Tinubu, for whom he was believed to have worked in the previous presidential election after falling out with PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.

Wike is said to have orchestrated the APC’s victory in the Rivers presidential election.

However, APC leaders in the state said in a statement released on Thursday in Abuja that the party’s growth in Rivers has been organic since its inception in 2015.

According to the leaders, who stated this in a statement issued by Darlington Nwajulu, the party exceeded its votes from 2015 during the 2019 elections, when Wike ran for reelection on the PDP platform.

They emphasised that the APC grew organically over time, and that thanks to the efforts of party technocrats in the state, it narrowed and eventually surpassed the lead held by the PDP since 2015.

The statement read:

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 2015 presidential election.

Then the 2023 presidential election came in with additional 80,881 votes in favour of APC in Rivers State.

The question is, where is the helping hand of former Gov Wike, can he claim to have helped Rivers APC with
only 80,881 votes, when our growth showed organic growth since 2019?

The group also questioned whether those singing Wike’s song about how he helped Rivers APC knew about the 1,487,075 votes he carried in 2015 in favour of the PDP out of the 2,537,590 registered voters in Rivers.

They also inquired about the 472,971 votes Wike received for the PDP in the 2019 presidential election out of the 3,215,273 registered voters in Rivers State.

Can a non partyman take over a national ruling party in a state, simply because they claim to have helped the national party in his state with just 80,881 votes when such claims couldn’t be substantiated with empirical data?

Such is the calamitous quagmire Wike, and his sponsored detractors have caused to their political dynasty.

There is evidence to prove that Wike did not work for APC, Wike lost his polling unit and lost his ward.

When he found that his political career was gone, he decided to pitch his tent with APC, just to have a comfort zone to rob APC in Rivers State.”

The group further cleared the air that the difference between APC performance between 2015 and 2019 was 82,000 votes.

The difference between 2019 and 2023 is 80,000 votes. None of his so- called PDP members worked for us. Some Labour Party and others did for the PDP in their respective polling units.

These efforts are projected to result in the complete takeover of the state by the APC in 2027, they stated.

They expressed hope that the combined efforts of Rivers party technocrats, combined with the capable leadership of President Bola Tinubu, would result in significant progress in the nation’s growth.