Your illegal appointments can’t save you – APC tells Wike

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers state on Saturday accused the state governor, Nyesom Wike, of carrying out a number of illegal actions occasioned by his desperation to remain in power, warning that such acts will not save him.

It noted that the Governor’s actions are based on the recent judgments by the Appeal Court on the National Assembly and Rivers State House of Assembly petitions over the 2015 elections.

Disclosing this in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, the party accused Wike of hurriedly allocating functions to 20 Commissioners who were appointed without being sworn in for over a month, adding that this was after12 Special Advisers and other Senior Special Assistants were appointed with no briefs.

The statement reads: “Sensing that he is only buying time by approaching the Supreme Court over the nullification of his sham election as governor, Nyesom Wike decided to ask the erstwhile Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly [RSHA], Ikuinyi Awaji-Ibani to step aside while the only RSHA member whose case was settled at the time, Adams Dabotoru Dima, was installed Speaker, the calculation being that the Speaker will become the acting governor should the Supreme Court uphold the concurrent judgments of the Tribunal and the Appeal Court nullifying Wike’s election.

“The APC has sadly observed that despite not having a quorum after the recent Appeal Court judgments, the RSHA was forced by Nyesom Wike to illegally reconvene to carry out functions such as confirmation of the appointment of Daisy Okocha as the Chief Judge of the State amongst other illegal actions.

“Today, the governor has announced the swearing in of another batch of 15 Special Advisers who will never be allocated any functions because there are no more functions left. The single purpose behind these primitive, puerile and laughable appointments is the feverish desperation of Nyesom Wike to remain in power and the fear of the forth-coming re-run elections.

“Therefore, the APC is urging the visibly confused governor to simply take the nominal roll of all PDP members in the 23 LGAs of Rivers State and, in one fell swoop, appoint, swear in and declare all of them Special Advisers. May be, this will make things a lot easier for him and his party.

“In a related development, the APC has observed a sharp upsurge in shootings, killings and violence generally since Gov. Wike incited his followers not to report any slap on them to the Police but return such a slap 3 times. The killing of innocent citizens including police personnel has since taken a new turn in the past fortnight. We believe that security agencies would do the needful in establishing the nexus between Wike’s inciting speech and the new dimension of violence across Rivers State.

“The APC is happy that Governor Nyesom Wike has taken his lawlessness and obscene lust for power to the Ugwumabiri or marketplace. It is left for the good people of Rivers State and indeed Nigerians generally to see who the real Nyesom Wike is.”