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Rivers is not Lagos, you can’t dictate what happens here, Wike tells Amaechi

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2019: Gov Wike unveils INEC, APC plot to allegedly rig Rivers, Delta, A’Ibom elections

Governor Nyesom Wike has sounded a warning to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, over the latter’s alleged plot to impose a leader in the state.

He said that Rivers is not Lagos State, and vowed that he was never going to allow a situation where someone will be dictating what happens in the oil rich state.

The failure of Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to secure a second term ticket is believed to have been as a result of godfatherism. A godfather in the state supposedly dictates what happened in the state.

But Wike, making reference to the event in Lagos, argued that godfatherism was becoming a major political crisis, impeding development across the country.

He was apparently responding to Amaechi’s charge on his supporters and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers to begin mobilisation for new member to ensure that power was wrestled from Wike in 2019.

Amaechi had told them that they should not expect any benefit or change in the state except Wike is removed and APC takes over the governance of Rivers.

But Wike who spoke with reporters at the Government House in Port Harcourt, regretted a situation where some former governors and outgoing governors were determined to impose successors on their respective states.

He claimed that the struggle to impose a governor on Rivers people, has been the reason behind the conflict between him and the immediate past governor of the state, Amaechi.

He said, “I will not support anyone dictating what will happen in Rivers State. The crisis you are seeing is the struggle to bring a successor.

“Everybody who worked with him is bad. I held the home-front when he ran away to Ghana on exile and the other Senator he is fighting worked for him. If everyone that associates with you is bad, then something is fundamentally wrong.

READ ALSO: Amaechi renews bid to sack Gov Wike

“After spending eight years as Governor, someone wants to superintend on the activities of the state. This is not Lagos State. We are different,” he said.

He meanwhile said that a former governor of the state, Peter Odili, was not involved in any form of political conflicts, as he has transformed into a statesman and is not desperate to impose a governor.

 

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