Posted by Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State are now fighting forces asking for the immediate former governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, to take over the party’s leadership, adding fuel to the fire of the ongoing issue over who gets the ministerial position in the state.
It is unfair to reward a man who piloted the affairs of the state when the party faced a lot of trouble, according to Darlington Nwauju, the APC publicity secretary in Rivers State, who was a guest on Arise Television on Sunday.
“We wrote to the President officially, explaining the situations surrounding the APC in Rivers State and also the frolicking of some senior party members with the immediate past governor of our state,” he said.
Let me be clear: having someone in our party who oversaw Rivers State while dozens of our party members were murdered in cold blood is a grave embarrassment. We find it offensive that people who aren’t even members of our political party are calling for the outgoing governor to join our party and assume leadership roles or be honored for his service.
“We feel this is too disparaging for a party that has had a very checkered history right from 2014,” and “the setting up of APC in Rivers State has taken the blood of innocent people.”
As he continued, he said, “We cannot, as a political party in Rivers State, look the likes of the Adube family in the face, the likes of the Chisom Lenard family, and several other persons who were cruelly slaughtered for belonging to the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.
We have no idea what to tell them. Therefore, we don’t view this as merely a moral dilemma. The question is whether or not our party is willing to abandon every sense of decency. Is our group up for the task of laughing and clapping over the bodies of the dead?
In addition, he claimed that Wike paid for supporters to run ads promoting his candidacy for governor of Rivers State in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
If you’ve been keeping up with recent events, you’ll know that the immediate past governor has been sending people to campaign in the name of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and asking for his leadership.
Is there a lack of leadership in the APC? There is authority within the APC. Across all 319 wards, the APC maintains a solid organizational framework.
That’s why it’s so successful, as Nwauju put it, for “any group or individuals to become overnight lobbyists on behalf of the immediate past governor.”
He also said that someone is trying to have Wike appointed as Rivers State’s minister despite the fact that he isn’t qualified.
And I’m referring to the former governor’s Chief of Staff, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. One Mr. Tony Okocha, who has been busy campaigning and inviting the recently-retired governor to take over our party, has been making the rounds.
In fact, they’re asking for the impossible by demanding that Rivers State’s former governor be given a cabinet position. What happened to the many competent people who used to be a part of our political party? Why not make me a minister in the Federal Republic?” he asked.