The River state chapter of the All Progressive Congress, on Tuesday, lambasted the state governor, Nyesom Wike, for allegedly spending N10 billion of the state fund on the Peoples Democratic Party convention.

The party said this in a statement signed by its Chairman, Davies Ibiamu Ikanya.

While noting that the PDP’s betrayal of its erstwhile chairman Ali Modu-Sheriff was not surprising, the Rivers state APC, however, extended its sympathy to the PDP for its demise.

The statement reads, “The well advertised PDP National Convention in Port Harcourt has come and gone with its disastrous outcome. With the party now factionalised into three, the demise of the once greatest political party in Africa is not far from sight.

“As much as we sympathise with the endangered party of the torn umbrella, we hereby unreservedly condemn Chief Nyesom Wike for wasting a whopping sum of N10 billion belonging to the good people of Rivers State on this charade, especially in these lean times. This is not only condemnable but also abhorrent and unacceptable to the good people of Rivers State.

“We therefore request Chief Wike and his cotravellers to account for and return this huge sum to the Rivers State treasury as we cannot continue to fold our hands and watch him mortgage the future of Rivers State through his shocking financial recklessness.

“Those PDP leaders who gathered in Port Harcourt to waste the scarce resources of Rivers State are as guilty as their host, Chief Wike. For crying out loud, they should have known that the so called National Convention would be a charade in view of the court order barring any such exercise and with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stating from the very beginning that it would neither participate nor recognise the outcome of the purported convention.”

Speaking on the removal of Sheriff, the APC said: “We wonder why Sheriff is crying that he was betrayed at Port Harcourt,” Rivers APC said, adding: “If we may ask, does a leopard change its spots? If Wike could betray and ridicule Amaechi, who did everything humanly possible to make him Obio-Akpor Local Government Chairman, his Chief of Staff and nominated him as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, then we wonder why Sheriff or any other PDP leader should trust him not to betray them.”

Mazi Emeka