The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress said on Monday that, contrary to the claim by the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, it did not give conditions for the acceptance of the olive branch extended by the governor.
The party’s state Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, said that it only suggested a way out of the current state of insecurity in the state.
Finebone explained that if the current administration in the state had improved on the security architecture put on the ground by the then Rotimi Amaechi administration, the current state of insecurity would have been stamped out.
He said, “The attention of the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has been drawn to a recent statement by Governor Nyesom Wike that our party requested the completion of projects by the previous administration as pre-condition for accepting the olive branch offered by the governor.
“No such pre-conditions were issued in whatever form, publicly or privately. For the avoidance of doubt, we stand by the suggestions made through Senator Andrew Uchendu at a press conference as the way out of the present state of insecurity our dear state is wallowing in.
“We have no doubt that if the Wike government had not abandoned, but improved upon the security architecture put on ground by the Amaechi administration, including the infrastructure; if the various human capital development projects and programmes such as foreign scholarships were not abandoned/discontinued but continued, the present killings and large-scale insecurity would have been stamped out or at least, stemmed significantly.
“We unequivocally insist that these suggestions freely offered remain suggestions and not pre-conditions in any way. Our interest remains the wellbeing of the people and all residents of our dear state.”
But the state Commissioner for Information, Emma Okah, reminded the APC that there were killings, kidnappings and armed robbery cases during Amaechi’s administration.
Punch