A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has pleaded with residents of Rivers State not to repeat the same mistake they made in the 2015 election.
NEWSNGR reports that Eze made the plea in a statement on Tuesday. He claimed that the challenges confronting the state are the direct consequences of the decision taken during the 2015 governorship election.
He accused Rivers residents of ignoring the passionate appeal of then Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who urged the people to reject Nyesom Wike at the polls.
Eze said Amaechi had warned that the choice before Rivers people in 2015 was between light and darkness as he presented then APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, as a visionary leader with the competence, character, and capacity to sustain developmental strides recorded between 2007 and 2015.
“Unfortunately, through the influence of powerful political forces at the centre and circumstances that remain part of our political history, Rivers State ended up on a path that has brought over eleven years of stagnation, division, insecurity, institutional decline, and the dismantling of many of the visionary programmes that once made Rivers State a model of development in Nigeria,” he noted.
Speaking on the 2027 governorship election, Eze condemned in strong terms what he described as Wike’s repeated boast of determining who becomes the next Governor of Rivers State.
“No individual, regardless of his political influence, owns Rivers State. The era of political godfatherism must come to an end. Any attempt by anyone to impose a governor on Rivers people is not only undemocratic but a direct assault on the sovereignty of the electorate. Rivers people must reject such a devilish agenda with every democratic means available to them,” he declared.
