The Governors of Rivers and Imo States, Nyesom Wike and Sen. Hope Uzodinma, are at daggers drawn over the crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It all started when Uzodinma accused the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being behind the crisis in the APC, including plotting to remove Oshiomhole in a bid to destabilise the ruling party.
Reacting while briefing newsmen at the Government House on Tuesday, Wike said the Imo governor’s claims were “false”.
He accused the APC of being out to destroy the judiciary, asking the judiciary to protect itself against the APC’s wiles.
The Rivers governor said, “I read that Senator Hope Uzodinma said that the PDP conspired to plot the attempted removal of APC National Chairman. That is an unfortunate lie.
“It is unfortunate that Senator Hope Uzodinma will have the temerity to make that false allegation. Hope Uzodinma was an APC agent while he was in PDP. That was why APC used him as an agent to support Ali Modu Sheriff, but they failed.
“It is unfortunate that people of questionable characters are in Government. Hope Uzodinma cannot talk about the attempted removal of APC National Chairman and mention the PDP. What is our business in the attempted removal of Oshiomhole?
“APC does not mean well for Nigeria. It is a party of strange bedfellows merely formed to take over power.
“If Senator Uzodinma dares to make such false comments again about the PDP, we will tell the world about him.
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“That he fraudulently took the mandate of PDP does not mean that PDP is weak. Hope Uzodinma lacks the capacity to discuss the PDP.
“The Judiciary should be very careful. The Judiciary should be alert. It should not allow itself to be used. It should not allow itself to be destroyed.
“APC should not be allowed to destroy the Judiciary. Judiciary was there before APC. It was there before any political party. I cannot see the Judiciary being destroyed and keep quiet.
“I am not interested in what happens in the APC. But I am concerned with the Judiciary and its survival.
“With what the APC is doing today, we may not have the Judiciary and everyone will pay the price. The party is trying to destroy the hope of the common man.
“I agree with the former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu that the crisis in APC is about 2023. Everyone wants to be President or Vice President. This virus is indeed worse than coronavirus.”
But in a statement on Wednesday, the Imo governor said he had no regrets about his comment.
In the Wednesday statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser, Mr Oguwike Nwachukwu, Uzodinma said Wike’s “careless” reaction confirmed PDP’s guilt.
“There is no better way to pin Governor Wike down to the recent crisis rocking the APC and its national chairman than the careless way he spoke against Governor Uzodinma who obviously was echoing what many already know about Wike and his type of politics.
“Is it not unfortunate that Governor Wike pretends to have a court injunction on how to speak carelessly, the reason many erstwhile members of the PDP, including founding members, had abandoned the party which is about to collapse on Wike’s head.
“Rather than engage in some kind of introspection on what went wrong with his party, Governor Wike thinks that trivialising serious issues of national and international importance will bring accolades his way.
“If Governor Wike did not have a hand in the Oshiomhole saga, why insult innocent Governor Uzodinma whose only crime was that he brought Wike’s mischief tendencies to the fore for everyone to see?
“Governor Wike pretends to love the judiciary more than anyone else, but the truth is that every opportunity he gets to stand the judiciary on the head he does so with relish,” the statement read in part.