There is a renewed hostility and acrimony in the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the two warring factions have both visited the party’s national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, with different claims.
Leader of the APC faction, Tony Okocha, made the claim on Thursday when he led top party leaders including key members of the state working committee and other leaders of the party across all the local government areas in Rivers State on a courtesy visit to the APC national chairman, Dr Ganduje in Abuja.
Recall that Amaechi came second at the APC presidential primary which produced Tinubu as candidate. Also, his camp recently met with the APC national chairman, Ganduje, in Abuja, where members ventilated their grievances over their non-inclusion in the scheme of things, especially, appointments into key positions by the Tinubu-led administration.
Addressing Ganduje and other APC bigwigs on the essence of the visit at the party’s headquarters, Okocha said Amaechi had announced his support for Atiku during a stakeholders’ meeting prior to the election and insisted that party members in the state must not be allowed to vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was APC’s candidate in the election.
He also appealed to the Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) that whatever appointment or benefit the party wishes to allot to Rivers APC should pass through Nyesom Wike, a former governor of Rivers State who is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but now minister of the FCT.
He said, “In Rivers State, the leader of the slant which Cole and Dakuku, et al, belonged, had helmed up alliances with the PDP presidential candidate, HE, Atiku Abubakar, that Atiku and not Tinubu should be voted for in the presidential election.
“This wicked resolve against the APC in Rivers was openly announced in a meeting at the instance of the leader at his private residence in Port Harcourt, thickly attended by Mr. Cole, Dakuku, Chukwudi Dimkpa, et al, members of the innermost caucus.
“It was handed down that Tinubu must fail in Rivers State. They were thus, mandated to transport to their supporters in the 6868 polling units, 319 wards, and 23 local government areas in Rivers State.
“Was this obnoxious decision opposed by any of them either in words or actions?
Will they deny ever attending such a meeting and receiving such dastardly instruction? We have pictorial, visual, and individual testimonies to this.
“How did they contribute to the party’s presidential victory in Rivers State and were unable to deliver their members who contested National Assembly elections on the same day?”
“It is crucial to note that in all of that event that gulped several million, Neither Amaechi, Cole, Dakuku, et al now leading a delegation to the National Secretariat of our party, to belie the issues and make veritable their demand for compensation, contributed a split penny, neither did they contribute up to 10 genuine party members in the mammoth crowd that greeted that rally, for which the candidate, Asiwaju eulogised.”
He asked the Ganduje-led NWC not to recognise any other APC camp in Rivers, claiming they ceased to be members of the party a long time ago.
In his remarks, the factional state chairman, Emeka Bekee said, “As our leader has just said, before the elections, there was a directive and that directive was ‘go and vote Atiku.’ But we said no, we are party loyalists and we will vote for our party’s candidate, Asiwaju.”
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