Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike Sunday claimed to have uncovered a plot by the Federal Government to plant illegal items on him outside the country.
The plan, he alleged, is to implicate him so that he would be quizzed by foreign security agencies.
This, the governor claimed, was what was done to former Bayelsa State Governor Diepriye Alamieyeseigha in 2005.
But Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu said the government would not react to the allegation, just as Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) dismissed the claim.
A statement by Wike’s Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, said the governor’s investigations revealed that the government was using security agencies for the plot.
The statement quoted Wike as saying: “My investigation reveals that the Federal government is planning to use her security agencies to set me up anytime I am travelling outside the country. They plan to organise security to storm the hotel I am staying and say they found xyz cash in my possession; after which they would say I was arrested for currency trafficking or whatever offences outside the country.
“They will then precipitate crisis in my state and other parts of Nigeria. They will plan demonstrations to demonise me and claim I have gone outside to embarrass the country. The public odium is meant to smear me before my people and other Nigerians. It is unfortunate, wicked and unfair.
“What they plan is similar to what was once done to the late Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha. They are planning what they call the ‘Alams treatment’ for me. But, by the grace of Almighty God, they will fail.
Wike said he chose to alert the public to the evil and dangerous dimension politics had degenerated in the country.
“I am using this opportunity to alert the world of the sinister plot. I am a law-abiding citizen of this country and countries I visit in the course of my work or holidays. I have never dabbled into anything illegal. So, any attempt to frame me up on trumped up charges or alleged offences is bound to fail.
“What they are doing is just cheap politics. They want to intimidate the opposition into silence as they are already doing with their so-called ‘looters’ list’. It won’t work. We can’t all be intimidated. What we expect government at the centre to do is to showcase to the people their lists of achievements; why they should get a second chance. But they have nothing to show; so they are embarking on intimidation and arm-twisting tactics of the opposition.”
Wike said he was sure of victory in the 2019 polls because he has been serving the people diligently and efficiently.
“My works will speak for me. My projects will speak for me. The People of Rivers State will speak for me by voting me back. No shaking, “ he said.
Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, Chief Chris Finebon said: “Wike is raising false alarm. Wike was at the forefront of using federal might to win elections in 2015. Wike and his cohorts used the security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to massively rig the 2015 polls. The Rivers governor is now afraid of his shadow. Everybody is not like Wike. Nobody in APC will repeat what Wike and his cohorts did in Nigeria in 2015.
“Wike is simply being mischievous by claiming that the Federal Government will have nothing to show during the 2019 elections. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has performed so impressively. In 2017, the trailer loads of rice that Wike bought for members of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came from APC’s Kebbi State and part of the Buhari’s agricultural revolution.
“Wike is deceiving himself by claiming that he is sure of resounding victory in 2019, with his claim of serving Rivers people diligently and efficiently. Rivers people are ready to vote Wike out in 2019, to put an end to his poor performance, brazen stealing, misrule, impunity and bad governance.”