ABUJA – The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has warned that former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, will find it difficult to campaign in Rivers State if he continues to attack President Bola Tinubu.
Wike gave the warning on Friday in Abuja after a meeting with the chairmen of the six area councils of the FCT.
The Minister was reacting to comments credited to Amaechi, the vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, running alongside Atiku Abubakar. Amaechi was quoted as saying only thieves and mad people would vote for President Tinubu.
Wike said:
“If he continues this line, it will be difficult for him to campaign in Rivers. We will not take that. If security agencies and INEC can fold their hands, that’s their business, but we will not allow it.”
He added that the remarks were made on television and extended to Edo State.
“All of us watched on television yesterday where he said it’s only thieves that can vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, only mad people can vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and that if Edo people vote for him, it means Edo people are mad. This is supposedly a vice presidential candidate of a political party seeking to take over power,” Wike said.
Wike called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to sanction politicians who engage in personality attacks instead of issue-based campaigns.
“You see one problem we have in this country is that agencies or commissions should be able to take their functions seriously. Many Nigerians have called INEC to sanction political parties, candidates, or some politicians who, in their campaigns, incite the public or raise matters that are not issue-based,” he said.
The FCT Minister also challenged Amaechi to account for his tenure as governor of Rivers State, listing several projects and transactions.
“I have challenged him to tell Nigerians where is our $39 million cassava flour mill which you claimed you built? Where is the $10 million you paid to a Cuban company to fumigate Rivers State so there will be no mosquito bite? Where is the N68 billion monorail? Where is the $308 million you sold our gas turbine?
“Amaechi has looted the treasury. Ask him why he was indicted by a Judicial Panel of Inquiry and why he went to court to challenge that indictment and lost at the Supreme Court,” Wike alleged.