Rivers APC in Disarray
Following the loss of the governorship and subsequent rerun elections to the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State is in disarray, as many of its members are now leaving for the PDP in droves, Davidson Iriekpen reports
With the 2019 general election two years away, one of the states where the Peoples Democratic Party is likely to retain its seat with ease is Rivers State where members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are currently leaving the party in droves to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Investigation reveals that since the December 10, 2016 rerun legislative elections, not less than 60,000 APC members have left the party for the PDP. Many analysts believe that with elections fast approaching, it would be difficult for the opposition in the state to secure a victory.
At the weekend in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, about 200 former councillors elected on the platform of the APC in 2015, announced plans to leave the party for the PDP. Already, they have agreed among themselves to withdraw the cases they filed against PDP. At a meeting attended by over 150 APC councillorship candidates they expressed concern over the dwindling fortunes of the party in the state and the lacklustre manner their leaders had handled the court matter which they said had suffered several setbacks in the past two years.
Disappointed over what he described as weak leadership of the party, one of the councillors said they have had enough. He said: “How can we call ourselves chairmen and councillors while others are occupying positions and enjoying the perquisite of office? We must tell ourselves the truth. It is better we withdraw the case in court and face reality. The party leaders who got jobs in Abuja and Lagos seem to be representing themselves. They have left us to fend for ourselves.”
According to him, it is time for them to take their destiny into their hands.
Last week, it was alleged that seven members of the APC in the House of Representatives met with the leadership of the PDP in the state to discuss what would be their fate should they decide to join the party. The APC lawmakers, who are concerned about their future have realized that their return to the House would depend on how far they support their state governor.
Investigation has also revealed that some APC members in the state House of Assembly are warming up to leave the party for the PDP to retain their seats in the assembly.
Apart from a number of former commissioners, special assistants, local government chairmen and other officials who have left the APC for the PDP in recent times, the decision of a former Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Emeh Glory Emeh to abandon the party and move to the PDP is seen as a major blow to APC in Rivers.
Emeh, who had served the state in various capacities including two times as commissioner under former Governor Peter Odili’s administration, is generally described as a political engine room and a strategist.
Before leaving APC, the leadership of PDP in the state was said to have mounted enormous pressure on the Ikwerre-born chartered accountant and lawyer to come back to the party described as his political home. No doubt the exit of Emeh will have serious implications for APC in the state given his enormous political experience.
Since his defection, Emeh’s Port Harcourt residence has become a Mecca of sorts with lot of politicians, their followers and groups coming in on daily basis to congratulate him for taken the right decision. Last week, several groups from Ahoada-East, Abual/Odual, Emohua, Asari-Toru, Akuku-Toru, Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni, Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpor, as well as non-indigenes called on him, pledging their support for the administration of Governor Nyesom Wike and the PDP.
Penultimate week, the coordinator of the Dakuku Peterside Campaign Organisation in Okrika, Dagogo Spencer and his supporters left the APC for the PDP. He said that they moved to the PDP because they were tired of the cock and bull story of the leaders and the infighting that has become the stock in trade of APC in the state.
Receiving the new comers, Emeh thanked them for the decision to embrace the PDP saying that the decision was timely. The former Chief of Staff also described Wike as an astute politician who has a large heart, so large that it could accommodate all, both old and new.
Earlier in the month, former members of APC in Ward 6 of the Emohua Local Government Area of the state visited Emeh, announcing their exit from the party and declaring for the PDP. Speaking on the occasion, the leader of the delegation and until his defection, Auditor of the APC in the local government, Emmanuel Egburuwhuo, said they were neglected. He said they had suffered in silence in their former party and were contemplating leaving before they heard of the defection of Emeh, and that the decision of the seasoned politician to join PDP inspired them to take similar decision.
Soon after, another group of former APC members from Ogbakiri Wards 1 and 2 were also at Emeh’s house to announce their decision to follow him to the PDP. The leader of the group, Monday Bekweri Owhonda, who claimed to have worked closely with an immediate past commissioner from the area, said they visited Emeh to let him know that they had also left APC, the same way he left, lamenting that “there is no change in the APC.”
Responding Emeh told his guests that he left the APC because the party was not organised and lacked focus, He assured them that Wike would accommodate them.
Last month, members of the APC in Rumuokparali, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state defected to PDP. To truly show that they have left APC for good, they burnt a casket engraved with APC logo and handed over their brooms to the Rivers State PDP Chairman, Mr. Felix Obuah.
Also recently, Obuah was in Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area, the home of the Minister of Transportation and former governor, Rotimi Amaechi to receive hundreds of members of the APC. While welcoming the new members from the APC to the PDP, the party chairman congratulated them for taken the bold step despite intimidation from Athekame leadership of APC. He reiterated that the PDP umbrella was large enough to accommodate both regular and returning members of the party even as he assured them of equal opportunity and treatment.
He advised those still remaining in APC to have and take steps towards joining the Wike in giving the people of the state a new lease of life. PDP, he said, was willing to forgive and re-admit any genuinely repentant APC leader and members ready to help build a better state.
When THISDAY sought to know why people are leaving the APC in droves, a source said members were fed up with the attitude of the party leaders in the state. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the leaders of the party were disconnected from their followers.
“How do you expect us to cope with leaders who are either in Abuja, Lagos or Singapore, leaving us to suffer? As we speak, we don’t know where the chairman of the party in the state is. We heard that he resumes and closes in one of the federal government agencies in Lagos and leaving us in the doldrums here. We have to take our destiny in our own hands,” the source said.
Another APC member said the party’s fortune already bad would become worse in the future.
He said: “It is very unfortunate that APC is in this mess but I have no doubt that it will become very grave because, if you look around, you will find that the party is made up of inexperienced men and women, while the experienced politicians are all in the PDP. That ordinarily should not have been a problem if not for the myopic and ‘dog eat dog’ situation in APC.”
However, a top APC leader in the state dismissed the defectors, describing them as people with no character, credibility and integrity. The APC stalwart who did not want his name in print, said the party before 2019 would recover from all it has suffered. He described Emeh as mole in the party. “It was good Emeh left the party. He was a mole in the APC. We didn’t need him again in the party. He is a good radiance to bad rubbish,” he said.