Guber Polls: Amaechi, Wike resume supremacy war in Rivers
Some Rivers State citizens are in the back of the queue when it comes to choosing who to vote for, particularly for the position of governor, as the governorship and State House of Assembly elections take place tomorrow, Saturday.
Some commentators believe that the PDP’s nominees for governor and the state assembly have a good chance of winning.
They are confident that the PDP would win handily thanks to the influence of Governor Nyesom Wike.
The PDP had won 90% of the National Assembly seats in the state, including the 3 Senatorial districts and 9 House of Assembly seats.
The Labour Party won 1 House of Assembly seat and the All Progressives Congress won 1 seat at the House. Two constituencies are yet to be announced.
The PDP has, however, been accused of hijacking the process of the February 25 election.
The Labour Party in the state had claimed that they won the presidential election in the state, as well as most of the National Assembly seats, but their mandate was allegedly stolen by the PDP.
For the March 18 election, it is widely speculated that the APC and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the state, have great interest in the elections, despite not showing much interest in the presidential and National Assembly elections.
The Labour Party is also not left out as some “Obidients” have vowed to vote for LP from top to bottom, as revenge for what happened in the February 25 election.
Meanwhile, some residents of the state have promised to follow through with Governor Wike’s alleged directive during the presidential election, to vote for the APC.
Wike is believed to have worked for the presidential candidate of the APC, now president-elect, Bola Tinubu, to make him remove his interest in APC winning the Rivers governorship election.
Read Also: Guber Election: Amaechi Berates Rivers People, Says You’re Our Problem, Not Wike
Tinubu is reportedly cut in the middle for whom to support. The guber candidate of his party, which is the APC, Patrick Tonye-Cole, the guber candidate of the SDP, which is his longtime ally, Magnus Abe or the guber candidate of the PDP, Siminalaye Fubara, whose boss (Wike), allegedly worked for his victory in the state.
Tensions are high in the state as various political parties, especially the APC and the SDP, have vowed that the PDP will not hijack the electoral process like they supposedly did with the presidential and the National Assembly elections.
The guber candidate of the Labour Party, Beatrice Itubo is also gathering momentum, as the electorates and the Obidients are gearing towards her. The support for her candidacy increased after the former state chairman of LP in Rivers state, Dienye Pepple, as well as the state executives of the party, publicly endorsed the guber candidate of the PDP.
Their decision, they said, was hinged on the fact that “they want to support a candidate that can win the election.”
They also accused their party’s guber candidate of being, “unserious and unready to run an election.”
As for the candidate of the SDP, Abe, he has been endorsed by several groups in the state, including the Igbo community, which the leaders have come out to refute.
He also has a large number of followers and has been described as, “a grass root politician.”
He worked with the previous administration, where he served as Secretary to the State Government. Abe is also said to have a stronghold in his area, which is the Ogoni axis.
The candidate of the PDP is said to also have a great chance. This is because Governor Wike has managed to poach some influential leaders of the APC and SDP in the state to join his camp.
He has equally had meetings with several groups and sectors, to woo them to vote for his party’s candidate.
A week ago, he went as far as promising to employ 10,000 youths in the state, promotion of civil servants, an employment scheme and promotion of several persons. However, this strategy may have won some people to the side of the strategic Governor.
The candidate of the APC, Tonye-Cole, had earlier gathered some level of support from the people, after the presidential and National Assembly elections. Some electorates described him as, “the best man for the job.”
Guber Polls: Amaechi, Wike resume supremacy war in Rivers
