Things have fallen apart in the camp of Rotimi Amaechi following revelation by one of his trusted allies that the Minister of Transport plotted to hijack power in the state by crook.
The deputy governorship candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC Akpo Bomba Yeeh disclosed this in Port Harcourt, the state’s capital shortly after he decamped to the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP.
Yee has also announced his withdrawal from the race.
Reacting to the development, Barrister Teni Aduno, a Lagos lawyer said the implication of Yee’s resignation is that the AAC ticket in no longer effective.
“The law provides for a joint ticket and in this case that the deputy governorship candidate has opted out of the race, the position of the law is that AAC as a party is no longer in the race.”
The minister’s camp, the magazine learned, has be thrown into chaos following the revelation even as the National Security Adviser, NSA has been directed by President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the involvement of security agencies in the matter.
It was also learned that bipartisan meetings have been going on among elders in the state on how to quickly end the crisis.
Governor Nyesom Wike has accused the INEC of failure to announce him as winner of the election more than two weeks after it was conducted.
But the AAC candidate revealed that the minister is very desperate to install his candidate so that he can continue to rule by proxy.
He said part of the plot was to remove him as the deputy governor as soon as AAC won the governorship election.
The politician said he had been forced to sign a letter to this effect by the former Rivers’ helmsman.
Hear him “I was forced to sign an un-dated letter of resignation as the Deputy Governor of Rivers State to pave way for Rotimi Amaechi to nominate another person as Deputy Governor.
These were slavish conditions for any rational politician worth his name to accept, but I pretended to play along because doing otherwise at that time would have been too dangerous for the safety of my life, given Rotimi Amaechi’s desperation to remove Governor Wike from office and install his stooge in the person of Engr Awara against all odds.”
According to him, he decided to abandon Amaechi and join PDP because he could no longer be part of the diabolical plot to deepen the bloody crisis.
Many people have been killed and others injured as the two political parties battle for the soul of the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has also failed to announce the winner of the governorship election held on March 9 due to the wanton bloodletting that has marred the state in the past few weeks.
But the AAC candidate said this must stop in the interest of the peoples of the state.
According to him “after due consultations with my immediate family, friends and supporters, I, Chief Akpo Bomba Yeeh, the Deputy Governorship of the AAC for the 2019 Governorship election hereby resign my membership of the AAC and announce my defection to the PDP to join hands with Governor Wike to move the state forward.
I was the Deputy Governorship Candidate of the AAC in Rivers State up till today 25th March, 2019 , when I decided to withdraw my candidature and resign from the party with immediate effect.
“The March 9 , Governorship election in Rivers State has been lost and won; lost by my party, African Action Congress (AAC) and its Candidate, Engineer Biokpomabo Awara, and undoubtedly and overwhelmingly won by the Governor of Rivers State, the candidate of PDP, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike. “
He alleged that security agencies were part of the diabolical plot by Aneachi : “The collated results further showed that contrary to the false claim of fictitious lead by the AAC/APC alliance, the PDP overwhelmingly won all the elections in 18 out of the 19 LGAs, culminating in the declaration and return of the party 26 House of Assembly Constituencies by the Constituency Returning Officers.
This fact was confirmed on the 13th of March 2019, when INEC stated, as a matter of fact, that it had in it’s safe custody collated results for 17 Local Government Areas as well as the declaration of the PDP Candidates for 21 State Constituencies.
The outcome of the elections on March 9, 2019 clearly showed the preference of the people of Rivers State. Even the blind can see and the deaf can hear the echo that Rivers people overwhelmingly voted to stick with Governor Wike for the next four years to encourage him to continue with the good works”.
Explaining that he signed the resignation letter under duress, the politician said “These were slavish conditions for any rational politician worth his name to accept, but I pretended to play along because doing otherwise at that time would have been too dangerous for the safety of my life, given Rotimi Amaechi’s desperation to remove Governor Wike from office and install his stooge in the person of Engr Awara against all odds”.
He stated that Ameachi boasted that all security agencies have been recruited into the plot; “Amaechi disclosed to us that he had already assembled security personnel drawn from the Nigerian Army, the Police, DSS and FSARS to provide adequate security cover and enablement for members of the AAC and APC to effectively rig the Governorship election and have us declared as winners on March 9 , 2019”.
He explained that the government will be in Amaechi’s pocket if AAC wins, because the ex-governor will be “the one to appoint 90 per cent of all political office holders, including commissioners, Special Advisers, and chairmen and members of Government Agencies and parastatals.
Second, he must be the one to nominate and produce all the 23 Local Government Council Chairmen and other principal officers of the councils.
We, that is, Engr Awara and my humble self must consult and take instructions from him on all financial, policy and fiscal matters, as well as award and payment of all contracts and other financial transactions upon inauguration as governor and deputy governor of the state.”
He said further that “As a practicing Christian, I have come to the conclusion that the actions and desperate attempts by Amaechi and the AAC/APC alliance to rig the Governorship and State Assembly elections in Rivers State are both morally and legally wrong, reprehensible and inimical to the collective interest of the people of Rivers State.
The Almighty God will not forgive me if I continue to lend my support to Rotimi Amaechi’s perfidy against the democratic rights of the people of Rivers State to freely elect their own leaders “.
Recall that the All Progressives Congress, APC was barred by the court from participating in the election due to fallout of the governorship primaries conducted by the party.
The plan by Amaechi and his party to support the governorship candidate of the Accord party, Dumo Lulu-Briggs for the election did not also work out after Briggs was also barred from participating in the election.
