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The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has alleged that the deputy governorship candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the state, Akpo Yeeh, was bribed with N200 million by Governor Nyesom Wike to defect from the AAC.
Recall that Yeeh stunned the public on Monday when he resigned his membership of the AAC, defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and pledged political support to Wike who has been battling to survive a tough election battle with the AAC.
Yeeh’s action came as a surprise to many because his party, backed by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the APC, has become the major opposition against PDP in the state.
The court had barred the APC from being on the ballot because of the internal power struggle in the party.
More so, the governorship and the House of Assembly elections are yet to be concluded in the state.
“Honestly, I think we are not surprised at the news that the deputy governorship candidate of the African Action Congress, Mr Akpo Yeeh, has resigned the membership of his party to join Wike after collecting N200 million from the government,” the APC spokesperson in Rivers, Chris Finebone, said in a reaction to the development on Tuesday afternoon.
“We are only reacting to his decision because we adopted in principles, the AAC governorship candidate, Biokpomabo Awara, and the fact that Mr Akpo, for want of justification for his actions, is struggling to lie about the Hon. Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
“Even the retarded of the earth know that Mr Akpo simply responded to what many people called ‘stomach infrastructure’.
“Depending on Mr Akpo’s station in life, N200 million definitely is a once in a lifetime opportunity he had to grab. His ilk totally jettisons their conscience in time like that.
“We wish him well. We only want to inform Mr Akpo that even as he struggles to reap from a script written by others, that in a few days he came close, he had no opportunity to know or to associate with the minister as to be in a position to say what he is claiming,” Mr Finebone said.
The Rivers State government has denied that it bribed Yeeh to abandon the AAC.
“They are talking rubbish,” the Commissioner for Information in the state, Emma Okah, said of the bribery allegation.
“They are a people who have no shame, trying to distract people’s attention from the calamity which they have inflicted upon the people of Rivers State during the elections.
“Why do we need to bribe a deputy governorship candidate? Does it change the fact that we won the elections? Are we under any threat by AAC?” Okah said.
The commissioner said the PDP has won the governorship and the House of Assembly elections in the state.
“What we can say is to thank the man (Mr Yeeh) for realising that there comes a time in a man’s life when you must tell yourself the truth,” he said.