2027: Elections not won by boasting, intimidation, Rivers ADC tells Wike

The African Democratic Congress has said no politician in Rivers State can win the forthcoming 2027 elections by boasting and sugar-coating the masses with vain promises.

The Rivers State ADC Chairman, Chukwudi Dimkpa, stated this in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Monday.

Dimkpa was reacting to comments credited to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, at a civic reception organised in his honour by the Ikwerre Local Government Area in Omagwa on Saturday, that Rotimi Amaechi, the vice-presidential candidate of the ADC, would be defeated by 12 noon on election day.

However, Dimkpa insisted that Wike’s boast that Amaechi would be defeated by 12 noon on election day was neither here nor there.

“Elections are not won by boasts, intimidation or political strongmen announcing results in advance. Rivers people will vote, the votes will be counted, and INEC, not Wike will declare the winner”, he said.

Dimkpa stated, “On a day when Rotimi Amaechi was burying his mother and people from across Nigeria were travelling to Ubima, his hometown to commiserate with the family, Wike and the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area (Charles Wobodo) chose that same route and occasion for a political reception, obstructing part of the road, creating unnecessary traffic and then turning the event into a platform for attacking and taunting a man who was mourning his mother.

“It was insensitive, provocative and embarrassing”, Dimkpa stated.

The ADC chairman said there is always a time for politics and there is a time for humanity, saying, “if Wike could not suspend his political obsession with Amaechi even for the few hours in which the man was laying his mother to rest, then Rivers people should ask themselves who really is consumed by this rivalry.”

He continued, “We refused to dignify the provocation with a response that is because our attention was on giving Mama (Dame Ezinne Amaechi) a befitting burial..

“But Wike should understand that Rivers State belongs to all of us. Nobody owns the people, nobody owns their votes, and certainly, nobody can declare an election result by 12 noon”.

Dimkpa, however, called on the Rivers people not to be intimidated by anybody, urging them to make the right choice in 2027 by electing a credible leader that would add value to their lives.