Gay mood in Rivers over PDP gains from gale of defections

The sad gloom that descended on government officials and people of Rivers State the week Ekiti State election was conducted seems to have given way to brightness and backslapping as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) gains hugely from the defection of political heavyweights from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Most groups had moodily condemned the way Ayo Fayose’s group lost out in Ekiti and compared the APC and FG tactics in Ekiti to what may happen in Rivers State in 2019. The Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, openly condemned the events in Ekiti and called it a threat to democracy.

The foot soldiers in the state reviewed the Ekiti invasion and began suggesting new ways to contain any number of soldiers sent to the state. This was going on when the gale of defections began.

As 14 senators and about 27 House of Reps members defected, the governor said democracy was witnessing growth in Nigeria. When Bukola Saraki joined, the happy state governor said 2019 was becoming a clear matter. His supporters and allies began making more elaborate statements.

When Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State defected, Wike was simply beside himself with joy of a new hope. He declared the defection as victory for democracy, noting that every right-thinking Nigerian should work in unity to salvage the country in 2019.

Wike said: “This is a victory for democracy. There are lots of Nigerians who believe that the right thing should be done. What the Sokoto State Governor has done, is the right thing.

“There are some people who have said that we cannot continue to live in a world of intimidation. We cannot continue to live in a world of harassment. Every right-thinking Nigerian should come together to see that something is done to salvage the country “.

Governor Wike said things had degenerated to the level that all Nigerians must resist intimidation and work for the good of all. “I am aware that with what he has done today, the next line of action, the APC Federal Government will unleash the EFCC on Sokoto State Governor and his government.

“There are so many Nigerians who are waiting. I encourage them to be a part of history. If you don’t come out to support what is happening for Nigeria to regain its glory, when the history is written, your name will not be there”, Governor Wike said.

He said that Nigerians should not be swayed by claims that the APC leaders are not worried. The governor added that Tambuwal as speaker of the House of Representatives led the formation of the coalition that prompted the victory of APC in 2015.

He said that the negative actions of the failed APC Federal Government is threatening the root of democracy in the country.

“Democracy is under threat in Nigeria. Nobody obeys court judgments. Nobody obeys the rule of law. If you say anything they come after you. That is no democracy. Democracy means allowing people to have different opinions”, he said.

Governor Wike said that Rivers State is one of the states that is facing the worst form of harassment from the APC Federal Government. He noted he will never be deterred by the intimidation of the APC Federal Government.

“I am ready to be part of history. I am ready to be part of the positive change in the country in 2019. Some governors who cannot win elections based on their performance are merely hanging on because they believe that if Buhari runs, they will win. Those who are left in APC are afraid of intimidation by the EFCC. Some people are lilly-livered, so they cannot come out”.

The governor said that the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu is simply facing political intimidation because of political developments in the country.

Speaking further, Governor Wike said recent developments in the country have shown that Former President Goodluck Jonathan is Nigeria’s hero of democracy.

“Nigerians know that Jonathan is the real hero of democracy in this country. For a sitting President not to have used his office to do what these people are doing today, he is the hero of democracy in Nigeria.

“APC should be celebrating Jonathan because he could have done the same things they are doing today”, he said.

Governor Wike said that all PDP leaders were working as a team to ensure victory in 2019. He said the defections are a collective response to the failure of governance at the National level where there have been no projects delivery or security across the country.

As the reactions continued, the Rivers State chairman of the PDP, Felix Obuah, said the development had brightened the chances of party’s victory come 2019.

Obuah said their departure has inevitably put the APC in total disarray, stressing that the development has confirmed the unwavering position of the PDP that the ruling APC was visionless, lame duck and has nothing to offer the Nigerian masses other than poverty, hunger and bloodletting.

Recalling that the decampees which include the senate president, the Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; National Publicity Secretary of APC, Bolaji Abdullahi and a host of some State Assembly members constituted the ‘heart and soul’ of APC, Obuah said the development now marks the end of the road for the APC.

The State PDP chairman said the ultimate beneficiaries of the development were the generality of the Nigerian citizens whose political system, he said, has been transformed to that of animal kingdom where sheer opposing views were regarded as coup d’état that must be suppressed with gunshots and machine guns through the instrumentality of willing security agents.

“This hurricane that is blowing in the APC goes to support the fact that whatever you sow is what you will reap. They came through the backdoor but Nigerians are now wiser and seeing their true colours. PDP remains the hope for Nigerians and is gearing up to salvage the country, come 2019”, Obuah said, adding that the defection of these APC big-wigs is just a tip of the iceberg as many more defections might be witnessed in the coming weeks.

While commending the decampees for doing the needful, Obuah expressed optimism that their action would boost and embolden the confidence of their teeming supporters to emulate their worthy example so that collectively Nigeria would be rescued from a draconian regime that is reminiscent of first century barbarians which the APC represents.

Ignatius Chukwu