TheCable

Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state, says members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would engage the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with their lives ahead of the 2015 general election.

Speaking in Abuja during Muhammadu Buhari’s formal declaration of interest in contesting the 2015 presidential election under the platform of APC, Amaechi said the ruling party lacks credible candidate, and challenged it to present a candidate that could match the record of Buhari in terms of honesty.

He urged the people to ensure that they participate in the electoral process and also vote out PDP.

“We will fight with our body, with our lives because there must be change this time around,” he said.

“There is no aspirant in APC that is not better than the aspirant in PDP. You know that our dear GMB is a material that they don’t have in the other party. If they say they have a material like him, they should show us someone who is not corrupt like Buhari. If they don’t have one, let them show us half person.

“There is change in the air. APC provides an alternative for the country. We are tested and we are sure that we will never disappoint Nigeria. So go back home now and get your voters card. We will punish these people.”

He boasted about APCs “brighter chances” of winning the election ahead of PDP, saying his party was in control of the states with huge voting population.

Amaechi said the party had unanimously agreed to support whoever emerges as the presidential candidate and that the PDP would not succeed in its plot to intimidate APC.

“Rivers state is not in their hands, Lagos state is not in their hands, Kano is not in their hands, so tell me where they are going. They are banking on using security against us, but we shall teach them the Osun…,” he said.

“APC can boast of 14 governors. The governors in APC are determined to work together for change. In all our meetings, we insist that whoever emerges as the party’s candidate, all of us will work together to deliver APC. We will line up behind the party to ensure that we vote out PDP.”

He claimed that the federal government failed to render necessary support to Rivers during the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the state, saying that his government prevented the disease from degenerating into an epidemic.

“PDP and Mr. President are claiming the glory over Ebola and I ask one simple question: the government of Rivers state used N 1.6 billion to fight Ebola and federal government just brought N 200 million last week,” he said.

“If we had waited for them, Ebola would have spread round Rivers. I don’t know how much Lagos state spent but you know that the governor was fully in charge of the situation.

“Apart from announcing the number of patients, what else did the federal government do for us? So why politicise Ebola and fool Nigerians?”