As the highly rumoured planned defection of Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Rivers State governor, to the All Progressives Congress (APC), continues to gain momentum, opinions differ on what role he will play in the party……CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
It will be recalled that a chieftain of the APC in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha on Wednesday pleaded with the former governor to dump the PDP and defect to APC in the overall interest of the state in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government.
Okocha would also want President Tinubu to route any appointment for the state through Wike who he claimed worked hard to ensure that the President win the last election in Rivers.
Responding to Okocha’s call, another chieftain of the party, Hon Augustine Wokocha who served as the state coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima Grassroot Independent Campaign Council, ICC, in the February presidential election, said it was wrong to attribute the victory of Tinubu to Wike alone.
“Rivers people deserve to be appreciated and given credit for voting for Tinubu. I can’t remember any forum whatsoever where Wike canvassed support for Tinubu during the campaigns. I don’t know what Tony is referring to.
“I will want to see any video clip where Wike canvassed support for Tinubu. Wike boasted that APC was at cancer stage 4, a near-death situation and that he could not leave the PDP with malaria to join APC.
“Tony merely wants Wike to join the APC just to favour him. But let me say that anybody who gets something from Tinubu’s government will be appreciated”, he said.
Wokocha at a press briefing in Port Harcourt, the state capital, however, explained that there was nothing wrong if former governor Wike joins the APC. “It is a welcome development. What is an aberration is when somebody asks Wike to come and be the leader of the party”.
According to the former Commissioner for Power, Wike joining the APC and taking over its leadership will amount to dancing on the graves of the innocent Rivers people who were brutally murdered in the last election.
On who is the authentic leader of APC in the state, Wokocha reiterated that the immediate past minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi remains the only known leader of the party, adding that the likes of Senator Magnus Abe before his defection to the SDP were a leader and he (Wokocha) is a leader of some groups within the party……CONTINUE READING
