David Amusa, Port Harcourt
A group in the Rivers state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), that wants to ensure that internal democracy is complied with in selecting candidates for elective positions, has vowed to restore Rivers people to national politics.
Speaking to Global Patriot Newspapers in an interview in Port Harcourt, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Hon. Innocent Ajaelu, said the group, M30, had designed an awareness campaign that would make APC a household name in Rivers state.
“We want to put the name of the party in the mouths of everybody in all the communities, towns and villages in Rivers state”, he said.
He further said the group has perfected a constructive engagement with all shades of Rivers people that would bring victory to the party.
He noted that the group had been in dialogue with various strata of Rivers people and many of them had told the body that they supported PDP in 2015 because of their sympathy for a Niger Delta son who was the president then and that that was over.
He added that he and his group had been explaining to them that the politics of Rivers man as a minority in the country is better played by aligning with the centre to protect his interest.
He explained that he told them President Muhammadu Buhari has interest in Rivers people and that they should exploit it for the interest of the state.
Ajaelu said he was convinced that by 2019, many Rivers people will change their perception of APC for good.
He appealed to the leadership of APC at the national and state levels to give his group support, pointing out that in 2019, they would see the fruit of their labour.
Ajaelu who was a former chairman of Oyigbo local government council, cautioned those who are making unguided utterances against groups and members that meant well for APC, to leave the party, as their comments are inimical to the progress of the party, adding that M30 is a plus to APC.
The PRO said what the APC needs now is for all and sundry to work together to achieve victory for the party in Rivers state and that the woe of PDP in 2015 elections was their unguided utterances that anybody who never agreed with them should leave, they will not be missed, instead of reconciling people.
On the recent visit to Governor Nyesom Wike by the Rivers State Caucus in the House of Representatives, Ajaelu berated those who were mocking the APC federal lawmakers for accompanying their PDP counterparts on the visit, pointing out that such was against the interest of the state.
“M30 as a group does not see anything wrong with the visit because other big wigs in APC have visited Gov. Wike of the PDP at different times. Recall the visits of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo of the APC and the Sokoto state Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the APC to Gov. Wike respectively. They all said kind words about the governor and those are all political statements. It has nothing to do with our struggle to take over the Brick House in 2019. Also, it would be recalled that few days before the Caucus visited Gov. Wike, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Seriake Dickson of the PDP visited the honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of the APC. And I know that that visit was to chart the way forward for the people of Bayelsa State in particular and Niger Delta in general. Above all, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP always presides over the business of the day in an APC led government. So, I do not see why anybody would criticize or mock the Rivers APC federal legislators for visiting Gov. Wike”.
