End SARS protest’ Okumgba Knocks Wike, demystifies lies against Amaechi

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned in strong terms plots to link the Minister of Transportation and leader of the party in Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi with the End SARS protest, allegedly planned to cause mayhem in the state, according to a statement released by the Nyesom Wike led government.

In his reaction, the Sooth / South Zonal Secretary of the party, David Okumgba, said such move by Wike is repulsive, antidemocratic, and laced with lies. The statement obtained by Africa Update today reads: ENDSARS PROTEST: WIKE IS DEMYSTIFIED, UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS HAVE RIGHT TO JOIN PROTEST The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to a contrived statement issued and signed by the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Paulinus Nsirim, on behalf of the Rivers State Government, which among others alleged the sponsorship by the APC of an #EndSARS protest intended to destabilize Rivers State.

The APC wishes to state categorically that the said statement is yet another dubious antic of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike laced with a masked motive to yet again undermine the rights of Rivers people and indeed Nigerians from freely expressing their democratic liberties. The Party recalls that on Monday, the 12th of October, 2020, exactly 7 days ago and just a day to the first #EndSARS protest in Port Harcourt, Governor Wike in a similar vein and through his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, issued an antidemocratic statement banning the said protest on the basis of alleged threats to public peace and safety. In the said dictatorial statement Wike, while invoking fear in the hearts of Rivers people, warned parents to restrain their children from freely expressing their democratic rights.

He went further to threaten to deal decisively with whoever violated his antidemocratic order. The defiance that greeted that order the following day, by the brave young people of Rivers State, and for everyday since then, has severely humiliated the Governor and put him in his proper place as a servant rather than an overlord of the people. The national resonance of that humiliation was so devastating that Wike who had vowed not to address the protesters on that day was forced by their prevailing might to eat his very words and step out of his cocoon to do the needful. Thankfully, it is on record that the #EndSARS protests in Rivers State, which is championed by the youths of the State as well as mothers within the State have been very peaceful. As such, Wike’s false alarm and contrived allegation of threat to violence are misplaced and intended to mislead the unsuspecting public as well as cow the people of the State from expressing their democratic and inalienable fundamental rights as citizens of Nigeria.

It must be emphasised that the APC in Rivers State acknowledges the rights of Rivers people to protest peacefully in the State and do not contend with that right howsoever. The Party also identifies with eminently qualified but unemployed youths who bear the brunt of Wike’s lack of intellectual acumen and visionary foresight to deliver on job creation and the economy thus leading to widespread joblessness and the unenviable status of having the most unemployed persons in the South South.

With respect to the #EndSARS protests, Rivers APC acknowledges the steps already taken by the President Buhari led Federal Government in promptly ending, disbanding and decommissioning SARS as demanded by Nigerians. On the strength of this, the Party believes that the conveners of the END SARS protests, should now open up viable channels of communication with the Federal Government to ensure the expedited implementation of their demands. Finally, APC wishes to state categorically that it notes Governor Wike’s threats against Rivers people embarking on peaceful protests and that given his notoriety for crying wolf as a decoy, while actively prosecuting mayhem to justify his fallacious outcries, it is not taking the threat lightly. To this end, the APC calls the attention of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Governor Wike’s threats and, as such, hold him and his allies personally and collectively liable should any harm befall any Nigerian in Rivers State embarking on peaceful protests in the State.

The APC will not join issues with the embattled Rivers State Governor on his allusion to the sponsorship of protests by Nigeria’s performing Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, as Wike’s infatuation on the Minister as well as his recourse to salacious and pedestrian propaganda are notorious facts across the country. The Rivers State Governor is advised to attend to issues of governance by providing jobs for the teeming youths of the State and making a conscious attempt at attending to the mountain of piling official files from his Commissioners, which they complain have mostly been abandoned for more than a year now.