Wike, Amaechi, Abe in epic contest for soul of Rivers APC
Despite the ongoing legal tussle against the dissolution of State Working Committee ( SWC) of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) in Rivers State, political gladiators are already scheming to outsmart one another in the titanic battle that will make or mar the future of the party in Rivers, ANN GODWIN reports.
THE battle for the soul of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) in Rivers States has renewed political rivalry among former governors, Rotimi Amaechi, Nyesom Wike and Senator Magnus Abe.
Ironically, the troika cut their political teeth in the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP). But with time, three of them climbed high on the political ladder, with two becoming chief executives of the state at different times, while the third ended up as a Senator with eyes on the governorship seat. Some residents of the state refer to them as three musketeers.
Following political developments in the state ahead of the 2023 general elections, Wike as the sitting PDP governor led the G- 5 governors to campaign for the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the
President and the inability of Rivers APC to win the governorship election, there are new political realignment that have subdued APC structure in the state.
Many analysts saw the state exco led by Emeka Beke as a weakling that could no longer provide effective leadership for the party given the influx of political gladiators dumping their parties for the APC.
Beke and his other exco members are believed to be loyalists of Amaechi, who has been on the wrong side of the party after the presidential election.
Amaechi, one of APC’S founding fathers, resigned from former President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet to contest for the party’s presidential ticket with Tinubu and others. But after losing the primary, Amaechi developed cold feet towards the presidential campaign that produced Tinubu, leaving Wike to lead the presidential campaign in the state. Amaechi deployed his efforts and resources for the party to win other elections in the state, which did not produce the desired results.
Despite the perceived cold war between Amaechi and the national leadership of the party and the president, Beke had on August 26, 2023, led some leaders of the party in the state, including the governorship candidate of the party in the last election, Tonye Cole and Dr Dakuku Peterside to visit Abdulahi Ganduje, who was confirmed as the national chairman of the party on August 3, 2023, by the NEC of the party.
However, that did not stop the national leadership of APC from dissolving Beke- led exco on November 24, 2023, and replacing it with a sevenman caretaker committee led by Tony Okocha believed to be an ally of Wike.
The national spokesperson of the party, Felix Morka, said the caretaker committee would be in office for six months to conduct a comprehensive and fresh electronic party registration for all members of the state.
He said: “The caretaker committee, subject to the directives of the NWC, was entrusted with preparing for the conduct of congresses to facilitate the emergence of new executive committees for the party at various levels, extending from the ward to the state.”
But the Publicity Secretary of the dissolved exco, Darlington Nwauju, said there was no justification for dissolving the exco because there was no crisis in the party. He said: “There was no reason at all for dissolving the party executives in the state. When you talk about crises and people’s management, remember that we came to visit him ( Ganduje); he didn’t invite us. So, after that visit, if there were issues that he felt we should sort out and he wanted to help us resolve, why were we not invited? Why were we not part of the process that led to this final decision on dissolution?
“You can see that the party was not carried along; the decision was taken to wipe off the entire validly elected structure. Will you now face the 1,421 delegates who voted for me across the 219 wards in River State that you had set aside their votes?
“The man whom Ganduje announced as the chairman of the caretaker committee refused to revalidate his membership in the party. So, his name is not on the party’s register at the national secretariat. Your announcing such a person as chairman of a caretaker committee shows that the party lacks institutional memory. Telling us you have dissolved validly elected executives of the party is not just an insult to our sensibility as human beings but an affront to the constitution of the APC, to which we all subscribe. If you look at what it entails to be a member of the APC as stated in Article 9, there is a specific tenure for the executive, and it is within the jurisdiction of the NWC to dissolve but not that of the NEC.”
Not satisfied with the development and the manner the national leadership hijacked the party structure from them, the Beke- led state exco has approached an Abuja High Court and a Port Harcourt High Court to challenge the dissolution and request the courts to interpret the constitution of the APC.
Even when the powers that be in Abuja favour Wike to control the APC structure in the state, the Minister of FCT is still a bona fide member of the PDP. Although many have argued that most of his political foot soldiers have decamped to the APC. Indeed, 27 state lawmakers loyal to him had in December last year officially switched their allegiance to the APC. They cited an internal crisis within the PDP for their action.