Buhari’ll defeat Jonathan, Amaechi boasts

AHEAD of the general elections in February, the Rivers
State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has expressed
the confidence that Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
(retd.), presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, will defeat President Goodluck Jonathan.
Amaechi also said that the APC in Rivers State would
win in the governorship, state and National Assembly
elections.
The governor, who spoke on Wednesday at the APC
rally at Abua Central in the Abua/Odual Local
Government Area of the state, described Rivers as a
satellite Nigeria, adding that the people of the state
had always dictated the voting pattern of other
Nigerians.
Represented at the event by his deputy, Mr. Tele Ikuru,
the governor recalled how Rivers had been following
the voting pattern of other parts of the country since
1962 to date, adding that 2015 would not be different.
He said, "Rivers State is a satellite Nigeria. Whatever
happens in Rivers State is what will happen in Nigeria.
In 1962, Rivers State voted for the NPC (Northern
Peoples Congress), and the NPC won in the state and
at the national level.
"In the second republic, we voted for the NPN
(National Party of Nigeria) and NPN won the election
in Rivers State and the national level. In 1999, Rivers
State voted for the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party)
and PDP won in the state and the national level.
"In 2015, Rivers State will vote for the APC and APC
will rule the state and at the national level. Any
direction the state votes are the direction Nigeria will
vote."
The APC governorship candidate in Rivers, Dr. Dakuku
Peterside, alleged that the PDP was plotting to rig the
general elections in the state.
Peterside called on the people of the state not to
succumb to overtures and tricks of moneybags from
the PDP, who might want to buy their votes.
He pledged to run a transparent government and
improve infrastructural development in the Abua/
Odual Local Government Area and the state as a whole
if he is elected as the governor.
Reacting to the allegation that the state PDP was
planning to rig the general elections in Rivers, the State
Assistant Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Samuel
Nwanosike, described Peterside's allegation as false.
"If Dakuku Peterside could make such a false
allegation, it is a sign that he has lost the election and it
is a welcome development. The truth is that the PDP is
not planning to rig any election because we do not
need to do that to win the 2015 election," he said.