BY Seyi Awojulugbe
In case you didn’t know, all members of the Rivers state chapter of the All progressives Congress (APC) are God-fearing. All of them – including the 1,029,102 million people who voted for the party in the 2015 governorship election in the state.
The rivalry between APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers is one of the bitterest in the country, leading to several incidents of violence and killings that are followed by counter-accusations between the two parties.
Asked by Channels TV on Wednesday if he was sure that his followers would not resort to violence ahead of the weekend’s senatorial rerun, Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation and former governor of the state, had said: “I wish you knew me very well, I hate violence. One thing I fear about life is that it is irreplaceable, so one thing you must do if you follow me is that you must not own a gun, you must not own a machete except for purpose of agriculture, and you must not own a knife. So you can’t work with me and carry weapon.
“Don’t forget, when I was governor, over 100 persons were killed in the 2015 election and we named them. There is a book written on that; we named them, their families and locations. Are you now saying that as governor I couldn’t have brought out money for my people to buy weapons?”
At this point, Amaechi was interjected that this didn’t quite answer the question. Representing the question, the interviewer said: “Yes you can say that those who follow you directly maybe do not carry weapons, but are you saying that every single member of your party, none of them is a cultist?”
Speaking assuredly, Amaechi said: “Those who follow me directly carry weapons, those are my security.
“But if you talk about followership in terms of politics, yes, one qualification you will have is that you must be God-fearing; you have no business being with me if you are not God-fearing.”
“You must be God-fearing to be in the APC?” the interviewer slid in.
“You must be God-fearing to be in the APC,” Amaechi answered in the affirmative.
“So are you saying that there are no bad eggs within the APC?”
“Aha!” he exclaimed.
“When you are God-fearing, will you be a bad egg?”
Again, the interviewer asked: “All members of the APC in Rivers state are God-fearing”
“Of course I say that. You must be God-fearing… being God-fearing does not mean you won’t commit sin, but it means you have a limit to which you can do things. For instance, you know the consequences of death.”
The video continues to gain traction on social media as more and more people struggle to understand the manner of inordinate party loyalty exhibited by the former governor.
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