*Tasks Amaechi to account for N419b gas turbine sales money, others
*As Fubara unveils Rainbow Coalition candidates including Chinda
By Daniel Abia
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and the national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nyesom Wike, has declared that Nigerians will not hand over power to what he described as ‘’political gamblers’’ in 2027.
Apparently referring to the Vice Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi, Wike, who enumerated alleged financial malfeasance during the administration of the former governor, said Nigerians cannot entrust power to the hands of Amaechi and his presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
He accused the former Minister of Transportation of spending N14b on mosquito fumigation in the state, N53b on the proposed 1000-bed Justice Karibi-Whyte Specialist hospital and N419b on the sale of the Omoku gas turbine in December 2014.
Speaking at an event unveiling the candidates of the Rainbow Coalition in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Wike said that the essence of the coalition across the states of the federation was not to cause crisis but to garner support from various political parties for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I have said and let me reiterate that the rainbow coalition means no harm but to bring people of all the various political parties together to support Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
According to him, “As the national leader of the People’s Democratic Party with the support of the national working committee, we have agreed that every PDP member in all the states should support President Ahmed Bola Tinubu.”
Wike stated that there is no faction in the PDP, adding that INEC has recognised the leadership of Abdulraman Mohammed as the national chairman of the PDP. “So, every PDP member in Imo State, Kwara, Gombe, Zamfara, Ogun and every PDP member in every other state must support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
He boasted that there is no other party existing in Rivers State. “Who wants to rule as president under ADC? It is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I ran together with him in 2022 presidential primaries. I had known him in 2019. I was one of the biggest sponsors of that presidential election. He is not a man that you can go to the bank with his word. He will tell you one thing in the morning and tells you another thing in the afternoon,” he said.
The FCT Minister stated that ‘’as bad as Atiku ticket is, attaching Rotimi Amaechi as a vice worsens it. It is important to show your report card. Amaechi was a governor of Rivers state from 2007 to 2015. He told us in this state that no resident of Rivers State will suffer any mosquito bite. He paid out $10m which is N14 billion for fumigation.
“He brought down the specialist hospital we had then to build the 1000-bed Justice Karibi-Whyte specialist hospital and paid US39m (N53b), no foundation for that specialist hospital.
“We spent N68b for the monorail. No monorail today. We had a gas turbine in Omoku; the former governor sold it in December 2014 at the cost of US308m, not less than N419b. I came in six months after, and what was left was US308,000’’, Wike alleged.
Earlier, Rivers State Governor Siminilayi Fubara unveiled Kingsley Chinda as the governorship candidate of the APC in the Rainbow coalition and other candidates from the six political parties that make up the coalition.
Fubara used the occasion to warn his supporters not to describe him as the political leader of the state again, noting that “we are aware we have issues with people who followed me during the crisis calling me their leader. I am no more the leader. My oga, the General Overseer, GO, is our leader’’.
In his acceptance speech, Chinda promised to run an all- inclusive government involving all political parties, religions, and tribes.
“We are no more divided in Rivers State. There is no more winner-takes-all in Rivers politics. Our number one candidate in Rainbow coalition is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
Of all the six parties that collapsed into the coalition, two Senate seats were allotted to the APC while one went to the PDP. For the House of Representatives, ten slots were given to the APC, including the Rivers State Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, while the PDP took three slots and other parties none.
The state Assembly positions were divided between APC and the PDP, with the ruling party having most of the slots.
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