Rivers APC, govt bicker over defection in NASS

Chukwudi Akasike, Port Harcourt

THE All Progressives Congress in Rivers State is currently at loggerheads with the state government over the gale of defections in the National Assembly.

While the state Chairman of the APC, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree, is alleging that the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, induced APC lawmakers with N2.3bn to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party, the state government described the allegation as illogical.

Flag-Amachree made the allegation on Sunday at the inauguration of unit and ward coordinators of the Free Rivers Development Initiative in the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area.

The state APC chairman said the alleged N3.2bn bribe given to the federal lawmakers who defected last week was a proof of the alleged reckless spending by the state administration.

“The reckless spending by Nyesom Wike is getting out of hand. Just two weeks ago, he spent N3.2bn to bribe House of Reps and Senate members to defect. That is how our money is being spent,” Amachree said.

Reacting, the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Emma Okah, dismissed the claim by Flag-Amachree as false, illogical and childish.

“Ojukaye Flag-Amachree is illogical in his comments; he is childish in his appreciation of facts and has no discretion in telling lies. How would any man imagine that someone who is being beaten by the rain would have to be bribed before he seeks shelter?

“In case he does not know, the APC-led government at the centre has so suffocated Nigerians that there is no way many of them will not seek refuge elsewhere.

“It is important he comes to terms with the fact that the APC house is falling and that a lot of people are aware of it and so, the natural thing to do is to seek remedy, succour and protection elsewhere.

“That is exactly what many of them are doing and that clearly showed in the spate of defections we witnessed at the National Assembly and in some states of the federation. Mr Ojukaye has to face those realities and face them now.”

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