The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state of Rivers, led by Chibuike Amaechi, and the governor of that state, Nyesom Wike, have begun savagely squabbling over the votes of the Igbo population ahead of Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections.
Amaechi had previously met with the community during a stakeholders meeting in Port Harcourt, assuring them that their properties, including houses lost during the civil war between 1967 and 1970, would be returned to them if they voted correctly.
He stated that if the Igbo who left their properties in Lagos and the North were able to reclaim them, Rivers State should not be an exception.
He, therefore, urged them to come out en masse and vote for the APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, on Saturday.
However, a few days later, Wike organized an interactive meeting in Port Harcourt with the Technical Dealers Association of Nigeria, Computer Dealers Association, Garrison Phone Dealers Association, and Building Materials Traders Association, all of which are predominantly Igbo.
He warned them not to listen to Amaechi’s provocative utterances, which could incite violence.
Wike cited Amaechi’s promise to return property seized during Nigeria’s civil war over 50 years ago as one reason the electorate should be wary of the APC candidate, Cole.
He insisted that Cole and Amaechi are insensitive to the danger the animosity they were trying to resurrect will engender in the state because of their alleged inordinate and dubious quest for power.
Wike urged the Igbos to be wary of Amaechi, who served as Minister of Transportation for over seven years, but allegedly failed to revive eastern ports and railway lines from Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt.
The governor, while canvassing support for the PDP, announced the allocation of 150 plots of land to the Computer Dealers Association and 30 plots to Computer Dealers Association to develop an industrial park in Port Harcourt.
Meanwhile, an APC chieftain, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, in a statement yesterday, commended the Igbo community in Rivers State for allegedly adopting the governorship candidate of the APC for the rescheduled governorship and House of Assembly election in the state.
In a statement made available to newsmen, Eze claimed the Igbo community in the state made a donation of N20 million as their contribution to the governorship project of the APC candidate.
