All Progressives Congress, APC governorship candidate in Rivers State,Dr. Dakuku Peterside, briefing newsmen during a campaign rally in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

The Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Chief Nyesom Wike, will be mercilessly crushed during the April 11 governorship election, the state Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared.
“Wike and PDP are doomed, as they cannot stand the combined might of Governor Chibuike Amaechi and our gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.
“Wike and PDP’s woes have been further compounded now that Governor Amaechi has triumphantly returned to lead our gubernatorial campaign after successfully piloting the Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation to victory in the March 28 presidential poll.
“If National PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan could not withstand Amaechi’s knockout punch, there is no way Wike and Rivers PDP can survive our hurricane on April 11,” Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said.
Ikanya in a statement issued Monday in Port Harcourt warmly welcomed Amaechi back home and thanked him for immediately rejoining the State APC campaign train.
“Our spirits have further been lifted by the return of the Lion of Niger Delta Politics, an exemplary leader who instead of taking a break after the bruising presidential campaign and election, came straight to Port Harcourt to take charge of our State campaign train,” Ikanya said.
He disclosed that the State APC governorship and House of Assembly campaign team has become greatly boosted following Amaechi’s double onslaught in the form of his Easter Message and rousing speech while addressing APC supporters at Saturday’s victory rally in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State.
But in a reaction, the governorship candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Barr Nyesom Wike, assured his supporters of the victory of the party in Saturday’s governorship election.
Wike, who spoke on the occasion of Easter/PDP victory rally in Port Harcourt, also boasted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) could not win the forthcoming election.
While urging his supporters not to lose sleep over the governorship election, Wike said: “Let them (APC) be in charge of the Army, Navy or anything, they cannot win this election.”
He warned that if APC rigs the governorship election on April 11, “they will rig their lives,” alleging that the state government was scheming to shift the election until when the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, has been sworn into office.
“They don’t want election to be conducted until Buhari is sworn-in. It will not work. We must hold election in Rivers State,” he insisted.
The PDP governorship candidate, while urging members of the APC to refrain from being used by the ruling government to stage a protest on the streets of Port Harcourt and sealing off the INEC office, said he would not hesitate to “mobilise the sponsors of such protest out of Port Harcourt.”
On his part, the Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus appealed to the party’s supporters not to be intimidated by Governor Amaechi, adding that the power to win the election rested with the masses, who purportedly voted massively for President Jonathan last Saturday.
Earlier, the state PDP Chairman, Felix Obuah, expressed delight that Rivers people were able to prove their support last Saturday, as they allegedly voted overwhelmingly for President Jonathan.