By Ishaya Ibrahim
Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) including President Muhammadu Buhari threatened fire and brimstone in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, on Tuesday as the party held its mega rally in the city.
The party chieftains were irked by the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday which foreclosed any hope of the party’s candidates taking part in the elections, except the presidential poll.
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A visibly angry President Buhari was the first to open the floodgates of threats.
“I am very disturbed by the decision that we are not allowed to participate in some of the processes. I have no doubt that I got elected but I have to respect the institutions that I inherited. I assure you and I recommend that you remain patient and resolute. We will ensure that justice is done in this country.”
The President who has had a running battle with the judiciary since May 29, 2015 also begged the electorate to “bear with him” as he continues to fix the country.
He vowed to deploy the armed forces and the police in the state to ensure that all Nigerians are allowed to vote without intimidation.
But the Minister of Transportation and former governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi, was not as restrained as he accused his successor, Nyesom Wike, of influencing a high court judgment against the APC in the state.
An enraged Amaechi, who is the Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, alleged that Wike had betrayed him after being recommended for ministerial appointment during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and vowed that he was ready to do battle.
He said, “Whatever Wike wants on Saturday, we will give him. Whatever the PDP wants in Rivers State, we are equal to the task. It is as simple as that.
“It gets to a stage where a man must be a man.”
Addressing President Buhari, Amaechi said: “Your Excellency, I’m not going to Abuja anymore. I am here from today till (Election Day).
“In 2015, the army tried to arrest me as a sitting governor. You have a governor who is busy lobbying us, trying to negotiate with us, ‘Let us give you presidency, you give me governor.’ He is afraid. We will battle him to the last. On Saturday, they should get ready.
“The support we want is that the President should just thank us when we finish. We are ready for them. They used federal and state institutions against us. They kill our people, APC people, every day; cut off their necks every day. They got a state high court judge to give judgment.”
According to Amaechi, 80 per cent of those who have made successes in Rivers State politics passed through him.
“Wike was my chief of staff. I made him chairman of council. I nominated him as a minister. When he saw Goodluck, he betrayed me. I have been betrayed serially, including senators. After you finish helping them, after praying for them, they go and betray you for a pot of porridge. Saturday is our day,” he said.
The APC National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, re-echoed the minister’s sentiments and lauded the party’s supporters in Rivers State for their “fighting spirit” despite their political travails.
Oshiomhole confirmed that President Buhari was hurt by the Supreme Court ruling which he claimed were efforts to award elective positions to the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said, “The President was hurt that there is so much effort to award positions without attestations to the PDP.
“In Zamfara State, we are fighting to have the rights of our people to choose who they want; and here in Rivers State, that right seems to have been taken away.
“But our rights could be frozen; it cannot be detained forever.
“There is a saying that you don’t laugh at the crocodile until you are very certain that you have crossed the very last river.
“The PDP may be laughing too early, but they might weep in the end. On Saturday, you know what our task is and I don’t think I need to lecture you about that.”
According to the APC chairman, the APC was committed to justice, fairness and democracy.
He said, “These are tempting moments when men of little hearts would give up as if this is the end of the world.
“Those who may be smiling that they will become what they do not deserve will find that, as they say, the downfall of a man is not the end of his life.
“And those who seem to laugh too early in the morning may end up crying much later in the night, because, in the world that we live in, there can be a huge gap between judgment and justice.”