•I gave Ize-Iyamu only moral support – Wike
•No, you also gave material, financial support to PDP candidate – APC
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are locked in a bicker over his support for the Edo State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Wike dismissed reports that he backed Ize-Iyamu with a N2 billion donation, saying all he gave was moral support.
He vowed to continue to support democratic forces, not just in the Niger Delta, but across Nigeria, to bring better life to people of the country.
But the APC in the state said Wike has been a pillar of financial backing for Ize-Iyamu.
The Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, speaking for his principal said Wike had no N2 billion to give the PDP candidate.
He also denied allegation by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that Wike and his Delta State counterpart, Ifeanyi Okowa, were mobilising militants to rig the September 28 election for the PDP candidate.
Tam-George said: “Governor Wike has no links with militants in the region and anywhere else in the country. He (Wike) has only given moral support to the PDP candidate in Edo State to overcome the ineptitude and dysfunction the APC imposed on the people.”
Wike asked the people of Edo State to stand firm in defence of their sovereign right by voting for the PDP in the election.
However, the APC Publicity Secretary in Rivers, Chris Finebone, told The Nation yesterday that Ize-Iyamu has been receiving massive financial support from Wike.
He said: “Wike should, for once, be courageous to accept that he also gave material and financial support to the Edo PDP’s governorship candidate (Ize-Iyamu), as charged by Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
“We all know that Wike is still on his schizophrenic delusion of grandeur. It is this same obscene pursuit of his that sent the PDP to its present life-support situation. Happily, some of his own people are now cutting him to size.
“The APC in Rivers State believes that Wike mobilized and exported militants and hoodlums to Edo State to rig the September 10 election and he will repeat the same on September 28, 2016 (new date for the governorship poll). Security agents and Edo people must be vigilant.
“We have informed him (Wike) that since all his (Wike’s) government can export is militancy, election-rigging and violence, he should tell Rivers people how much inflow that will bring, to improve the economy of Rivers State.
“The Rivers State governor should halt his ego trip and conserve funds to pay teachers outstanding seven months salaries, pay pensioners their nine months pensions, close to one year outstanding wages to Rivers State House of Assembly legislative aides and others who are already dying every now and then.”
