The APC in a statement issued on Sunday, May 10, 2015 by the party chairman in Rivers State, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya launched an attack on defecting Rivers State current deputy Governor Tele Ikuru calling him ‘the modern Judas’ who willingly sold his master for material gain.
The party chairman further described Ikuru as a man Governor Chibuike Amaechi “a man who picked him from the gutter and made him whom he has become politically.”
The party issued the statement in response to Ikuru’s attack on and accusation that Governor Amaechi was ‘irresponsible’ describing the attack as unwarranted.
According to the statement, “We read with shock the description of Governor Amaechi as ‘irresponsible’ by Engr. Tele Ikuru during his ill-fated press conference in Port Harcourt few days ago, which he addressed in his new capacity as the Chairman of the Transition Committee set up by Chief Nyesome Wike, the INEC-declared Governor of Rivers State. It is sad that after serving as Amaechi’s Deputy for over seven years, Ikuru, who several times in the past described Gov. Amaechi as the Hero of Rivers Politics and the best political exponent from the State, is suddenly singing a different tune. This is the height of ingratitude and paints Ikuru in his true colours as a Judas who is ever ready to sell his master for mundane gain,”
The party further said: “Amaechi’s love for Ikuru is legendary. He chose him as his Deputy despite Ikuru having teamed up with Sir Celestine Omehia and others to frustrate Amaechi’s governorship ambition during the ill-fated PDP Primaries of 2007. With God’s intervention the Supreme Court in its wisdom revalidated Amaechi’s mandate as the authentic PDP guber candidate, thus making him the Governor.
“In 2011, against the advice of many well-meaning Rivers people, Amaechi went ahead to again select Ikuru as his running mate as he successfully sought re-election. It is also instructive that Governor Amaechi has refrained from either speaking ill of Engr. Ikuru or engineering his removal as deputy governor despite his defection from APC to the opposition PDP shortly before the 2015 elections. For Ikuru to now have the effrontery to describe his benefactor, a fellow who loves him with all his heart and who on various occasions left the running of Rivers State in his care, as a disgraceful leader does not only show him as an ingrate of the highest order but also indicates that Engr. Ikuru may need to subject himself to psychiatric tests.”
The state chapter of the party said that Ikuru should be cautious and not let Wike’s promise to appoint him as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to cause him to engage in excesses as they said the declaration of Wike as Governor of the sate would soon be overturned by the Election Petition Tribunal.
The party congratulated the gubernatorial candidates of KOWA party, Mr. Kemka Elenwo; All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Charles Harry; Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr. Minaibim Harry; and Labour Party (LP), Prince Tonye Princewill, for joining APC’s governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, to challenge Wike’s purported election at the Election Petition Tribunal.
“With the evidences adduced by all these great Rivers State leaders, we are confident that bloodthirsty desperados who believe that they can seize the governorship seat by hook or crook will soon be put to shame and showed the exit door by the Tribunal,” they stated.