The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State Chapter, has dismissed as ridiculous, the boast by President Goodluck Jonathan that his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will recover the state from the hands of APC during the 2015 general elections. “This boast made on Saturday by President Jonathan during PDP’s South-South Rally in Benin City, the Edo State capital, is ridiculous because it runs counter to the realities on ground in Rivers State,” the State APC leadership said.

According to a statement issued this morning in Port Harcourt by Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, “President Jonathan’s boast is obviously based on ignorance about current political realities in Rivers State. He may not have known that the State PDP leader and prospective governorship candidate, Junior Education Minister Nyesome Wike, has polarised PDP in Rivers State to the extent that it cannot even win a councillorship seat in a fair and free election.

“Apart from this, Chief Wike, on whom Mr. President is building his hopes of PDP reclaiming Rivers State, has lost political relevance since he left the mainstream of the political family that binds Rivers State together under the leadership of the man that made him whatever he is politically today – Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Wike is either deluding himself or deliberately feeding Mr. President with lies in a bid to feather his nest.”

Dr. Ikanya also cited Jonathan’s “wickedness towards Rivers State” as yet another reason why PDP can never recapture power in the State. He asked: “On what basis should the people of Rivers State vote for PDP in 2015? Is it based on the wicked policies of the Jonathan administration against Rivers State and her people? Is it based on the ceding of our oil wells to his home state of Bayelsa and supporting Akwa Ibom and Abia states to take over our oil wells? Or is it because he has ensured that the Federal Government does not site any meaningful project in Rivers State? Or his deliberate refusal to implement the UNEP Report on Ogoni? President Jonathan has left no one in doubt of his deep hatred for Rivers State and her people, so how can we support him or any PDP candidate in 2015?”

Rivers APC declared that “in any case, the feats of the Amaechi administration are enough to give us victory in future elections. These feats, which are well known, include making Port Harcourt the World Book Capital City, eradication of militancy, dogged fight for the oil wells and other rights of Rivers State and her people, as well as award-winning achievements in Education, Agriculture, Health, etc.”

The party advised President Jonathan “to stop deceiving his confused followers about Rivers State or any state in the Niger Delta for that matter, as they have abandoned both PDP and his candidature as they have not benefitted from his regime as a region.”

Dr. Ikanya claimed that “Rivers people have since adopted APC as the party of their choice and there is nothing the doomed PDP or any other party can do about that.”

•Photo shows Rivers PDP Chairman Ikanya.