USUAL NIGERIAN POLITICS OF DO OR DIE;GOVERNOR WIKE SAYS HE WILL RISK HIS LIFE TO STOP APC COME 2019

Nyesom Wike, Rivers state governor, says he is ready to risk his life to prevent the All Progressives Congress (APC) from winning the governorship election in 2019.

Speaking at a thanksgiving service in honour of George Sekibo, the sacked senator who represented Rivers east in the national assembly, Wike charged his supporters to be ready to fight.

He also accused the federal government of destroying key national institutions through their "poor governance model".

He said APC had made the police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to "metamorphose into rigging machines that threaten the peace of the country".

"Instead of bringing change as they promised, things are getting worse. They have introduced extreme fraud in the country, especially denying the people their mandate," the governor said.

"2019, they will not succeed. As far as we are concerned, we have no senator in Rivers east. The man going there has no capacity to represent us. All of us should be ready. We should be praying to God, but ready to fight.

"Nobody should be afraid of the police or army, because liberty comes with a price.

"They have nothing to campaign with outside the use of security. I am ready to place myself on line, nobody will take Rivers state."

Wike also said the sack of Sekibo as senator was "a fallout of the unfortunate illegal alliance between the police and INEC".

He accused the tribunal of relying on results certified by the police "which the APC tendered to the court rather than the results declared by INEC on election day".

This is the first public criticisms of the APC since Wike joined his APC counterparts to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari back from his medical vacation.