TheCable

Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state and director-general of APC presidential campaign, says God has revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan would not win the March 28 presidential election.

Speaking on Thursday at the APC south-south zonal rally in Port Harcourt, Amaechi urged the people to support Muhammadu Buhari, the party’s presidential candidate, saying Buhari has the interest of the nation at heart.

“God has shown us who would be president and we know that it is not Jonathan,” he said.

“Do you remember the Jonathan in the bible? What did he do? He betrayed his father, right? This time around, we need a man that would deliver the country for both Christians and Muslims. There will be no Christian or Muslim but a Nigerian government.”

Criticising the federal government’s amnesty programme, Amaechi said Buhari would not discontinue the initiative if elected, but would reform it in a way that would benefit the people.

“Buhari has promised that the amnesty programme will continue when he assumes office and that he will include all those that the current president left behind,” he said.

“Jonathan only carried a few persons along. He bought guns for them but we will reorganise the amnesty programme and treat it as a social welfare programme because we believe that it should not be a compensation for crime.

“While he is creating jobs, he is also trying to create substance for those without jobs.”

Amaechi accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of using the police to harass members of the opposition party, but he told those at the rally to endure only two more weeks were left.

“To tell you how violent the PDP is, they have no respect for women; they waylaid my wife. Neysom Wike [the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Rivers] organised that attack in his wife’s village,” he said.

“Over 30 members of APC have been killed and majority of them died in police detention. There is no day that passes by that they do not kill APC members, even today they will kill one.

“In Rivers state, we are not running against the PDP but the police. Today, one of our chairmen is inside a cell in Abuja because he is a member of APC.

“People say I am courageous but let me tell you what I do. I kneel down to pray and part of my prayer is that God I may die as I leave here now but if I die, let me make heaven. So just pray and endure all their intimidation but if you want your own freedom, you know what to do on the day of the election.”

He further said that the ruling party is jittery of the general election, faulting the argument of Liyel Imoke, his Cross Rivers state counterpart, that INEC would have disenfranchised majority of Nigerians if the election held on the initial date of February 14.

At the governors forum of PDP in Lagos, Imoke and his colleagues, made a case for the postponement of the poll. However, Amaechi disagreed with them, saying that INEC was fully prepared for the election but the ruling party influenced the postponement out of fear.

“For the first time, I can see fear in the eyes of PDP. Even the president is afraid. The president got 1.8 million votes in Rivers state in 2011, let’s see how that will happen this time around,” he said.

“PDP is afraid of card readers because they know that if the card readers work, then the election is over. My friend Liyel Imoke, who does not pick my calls anymore, said that INEC should allow all Nigerians to vote. Has there ever been a time when all Nigerians voted?

“What about when we were writing results then when I was in PDP? Were Nigerians voting then? If INEC says 75 percent of Nigerians are ready for the election, the majority of Nigerians should be allowed to vote because there would never be a time when all Nigerians would vote.”

Earlier, Timipre Sylva, the immediate past governor of Bayelsa state, described Buhari as the only weapon against corruption, urging the people to vote for him because “he has the right qualities to lead the country”.