APC not an Islamic party, says Amaechi

The Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has dismissed claims in some quarters that the All Progressives Congress is an Islamic party.

Describing those spreading the rumour that the APC is an Islamic party as mischief-makers, Amaechi insisted that the party had no intention to Islamise Nigeria should it win the 2015 presidential election.

The governor, who spoke on Wednesday during an interactive session with students at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education in Port Harcourt, also described the APC as a party of the progressives.

He stated that one of the APC presidential aspirants, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was not behind the rumour that the party planned to islamise the country, adding that the APC meant well for Nigerians and the development of the nation.

Amaechi urged Nigerians not to be worried by claims from the APC detractors, maintaining that since Buhari never thought of islamising Nigeria when he was a military Head of State, he would not embark on such an exercise as a democratically-elected president.

He said, “The APC is not an Islamic party. This is so because when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) was Nigeria’s Head of State as a young man, he did not Islamise Nigeria, and to do that, he needs the endorsement of the National Assembly to debate over the issue. Buhari cannot Islamise Nigeria. Don’t be perturbed by what our detractors are saying.

“I am an ardent Catholic Christian and I converse with God a lot. It is not true that the APC will Islamise Nigeria. The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun is a Christian. Bola Tinubu’s wife is also a Christian, Buhari’s cook is a Christian from Igboland, his driver is also a Christian. As a father to all of those Christians, Buhari gives Sunday as a free day to his domestic members of staff to go to church and worship God. So, no one can believe what our detractors are saying about Buhari and the APC.”

He, however, expressed dissatisfaction at the stagnated political economy of the state, alleging that the Presidency and his government’s detractors were responsible for the development.

“The political economy of Rivers State has been stagnated by the Presidency and our detractors. They are all thieves who don’t mean well for our state. They caused mayhem in the last administration. We assumed office and chased them away. Now, as my tenure draws close to an end, I can see they have brought them back.

“You and I have a responsibility to stop them from repeating what they did before. We will not allow them again to steal our funds. Imagine the missing $20bn that was stolen. We expect that our President would have sacked all those involved in the saga. But, he only threatened to sack the former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was only doing his legitimate duty at that time. Nigerians must have a rethink,” Amaechi said.

On the forthcoming general elections, the governor pointed out that the plan by the PDP to usher in another Ikwerre governor in Rivers State in 2015 was unreasonable, not feasible and would fail.

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