Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, of plotting to disrupt the peaceful conduct of elections in the state.
Mr Wike made this allegation in a state broadcast on Thursday. He accused Amaechi of devising a plan to bomb INEC offices and destroy election materials.
“Credible intelligence has linked Rotimi Amaechi and his cohorts in the factionalised APC with plans to prevent the peaceful conduct of the general elections in Rivers State with the support of some unpatriotic military and police officers,” Wike said.
He also said that the minister was plotting to carry out the attack because of the Supreme Court ruling which turned out to be unfavourable to the APC in Rivers.
“It is therefore most unfortunate that instead of using internal party mechanisms to settle the festering crisis before it was too late; Rotimi Amaechi chose to act with impunity and is now hunted by the unpleasant outcomes of his arrogance and disdain for due process.
“Even at that, the Supreme Court has spoken and the only rational path left for Rotimi Amaechi is to recognise the fact that justice has prevailed over impunity,” he said.
Amaechi, in response, challenged the governor to produce evidence that he (Amaechi) hired thugs to disrupt the election.
“I joined politics 33 years ago, let one politician either at the national or state level say he attended a meeting with Amaechi where I discussed about hiring thugs,” Amaechi said.
The minister also alleged that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, was working in favour of the Rivers governor.
He said, “INEC is always working for the PDP. For an example, there is a stay of execution granted by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, just because the INEC chairman was a director of TETFUND when Wike was the minister, he has refused to implement the judgment.”
