It is an open secret that the outcome of special national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that produced the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, created a deep gap in his now frosty relationship with former minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who came second in the race for the party’s presidential ticket.
During Tinubu’s visit to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, for the APC presidential campaign, Amaechi was absent, even though the state executives of the party as well as the governorship candidate, Pastor Tonye Cole, were on ground both at the airport and at the campaign ground.
After the campaign rally, Tinubu visited Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, at the Government House, Port Harcourt, where they had a private discussion. He was accompanied by the APC national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and other top officials of the party.
Revealing the outcome of that private meeting while speaking recently on a national television, a former APC chieftain in the state and governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP), Senator Magnus Abe, confirmed that Wike got into a sort of alliance with not just Tinubu, but with the APC at the national level.
Abe said, “Now, in the course of that battle, the dynamics of politics have changed. Wike and the G-5 now have an alliance with the APC at the national level and that alliance affects the dynamics of what is happening in the state.
“Now, we looked at it that if we continue our battle in the court at this point, we will end up in direct confrontation with the president-elect, who has clearly by his body language and the alliance between the APC and the G-5, taken a clear position as far as the issue is concerned.”
About ten days ago, Tinubu was in Rivers State again, on the invitation of Wike to commission some projects executed by the state government. Again, Amaechi and the leadership of the APC in the state were not on ground to receive him.
However, a few APC members in the state who have close relationship with the president-elect, under the leadership of former Chief of Staff to Amaechi, Hon Tony Okocha, were on ground to participate in the activities.
The APC leadership in the state had, in a statement to welcome Tinubu, clearly stated that the president-elect was on a private visit based on the invitation extended to him by Wike.
The statement, which was signed by the party’s publicity secretary, Darlington Nwauju, reads in part: “While the Rivers State Chapter of the APC wholeheartedly welcomes our president-elect and appreciates his work ethics of getting firsthand knowledge of the various sub-nationals, we however wish to clarify that this is a private visit on the invitation of the Rivers State Government controlled by the PDP and has nothing to do with the APC in Rivers State.
“We challenge the governor being an outgoing governor to play less divisive politics and exercise restraints in planting seeds of discord amongst opposition political parties.
“We are aware that the governor has been working so hard to paint a false perception of collapse of the APC structure in Rivers State even when he had in previous well-documented interviews vowed never to have anything to do with a “cancer party (APC).
“We believe that it is morally wrong to always seek to be politically correct even when government should be a serious business and access to the instrumentality of power should be for the public good rather than patronage to lackeys and minions.
“We are aware of Governor Wike’s plot to prank our president-elect into believing his false narrative that there is no other opposition political party existing in Rivers State. Rivers people already know this is not the correct situation on ground.
“Rivers State APC lost four of its members on March 18, 2023 and we still expect the Police in Rivers State to tell the world who the sponsors and killers of our members are.
“No member of our party can dance on the graves of our fallen heroes by joining Gov Wike to mock those who lost their lives; except of course those who Gov Wike financially induced to act as moles while claiming to be APC members.
“Rivers APC is focused on pursuing justice by challenging the outcome of the flawed March 18, 2023 elections at the Elections Petitions Tribunal and cannot be distracted by the antics of Governor Wike and his co-travellers.
“For the avoidance of doubts, the leadership of APC in the state is neither part of his transition committee nor the so-called committee set up for the visit of the president-elect.”
To the party’s governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, members of the APC in the state were absent from the two-day visit of the president-elect because no invitation was extended to them.
Speaking on national television, Cole said, “I will describe the visit from two sides. The first side of it is that of the president-elect. As a president-elect of Nigeria, he has the right to go anywhere. The Rivers State government invited him, and he has come, honoured that invitation, and has come to Rivers State as a president-elect; with that, we have no problem at all.
“Where the issue is is that the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, ought also to be the governor of all Rivers people. And one of the things that he should have done if he is inviting the president-elect, who is the president-elect of all Nigerians, would have been to call us as APC in Rivers State to inform us that he is inviting the president-elect and would want us to be part of that programme.
“We never got any invitation. I was never invited personally, I was not invited in my private capacity as a candidate of the party, neither was our party, the APC in the state, invited to any of those things.”
For Tinubu, the Rivers State governor, Wike is a man of integrity who abandoned his personal interest for the interest of the nation.
Speaking while commissioning the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola flyover in Port Harcourt, the president-elect thanked him for contributing to his victory at the February 25 presidential poll.
Tinubu explained that Wike’s insistence that the presidency must return to the Southern part of the country was part of the factor that guaranteed his victory.
He said, “Despite the rumours and speculation peddled against him during the electioneering season, Wike stood by his conviction. Nyesom, I say thank you for your contribution to my victory. I couldn’t have done this without some structural support. In Wike, I see a man of principle.
“He took a good stand that the presidency must return to the South and he had the courage to stand by his conviction not minding those against him.
“Wike is indeed a man of great integrity. He did not choose to serve his own interests but rather the interest of the nation. You promoted unity, you promoted fairness. There was so much gossip and speculation but you stood your ground.”
From Tinubu’s body language, it was obvious that he knew ab-initio that getting the support of the APC under Amaechi in the state would be a very difficult task, hence, his decision to go into an alliance with Wike.
However, the leadership of the APC in the state is yet to come out and confirm or deny the allegation that based on the directives of the former Transportation minister, they worked against the interest of the APC and Tinubu and actually supported the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, during the February 25 presidential election.
Presently, the future of the APC in the state seems not to be clear even though its candidates in the just concluded general elections are at the election petitions tribunal challenging the outcome of the polls.
The party is currently factionalised with one faction led by the congressionally elected chairman, Emeka Beke, under Amaechi’s direction while the other faction is led by former vice chairman of the party, Omiete Eferebo, under the direction of Hon Tony Okocha.
An interim order from a Rivers State High Court was later issued stopping Beke and Iheanyichukwu Dike from parading themselves as chairman and legal adviser of the party, respectively.
The romance between the Okocha-led faction and the PDP government in the state has left many with no option than to doubt if the party will survive in the state beyond May 29, 2023.
The inclusion of some members of the APC in the newly inaugurated governor-elect and deputy governor-elect’s inauguration committee have made many to also think that Wike is preparing to dump the PDP for the APC after handing over on May 29.
But, speaking recently, the Rivers State governor reiterated that he will not dump the PDP for the APC, describing the insinuations as speculative.
Insisting that he remains an unrepentant member of the PDP, Wike said, “I am not a member of the APC and I will not be.”
But, in his reaction, a chieftain of the APC in the state, Tony Okocha, said the party will welcome the outgoing Rivers State governor if he decides to join.
Okocha described Wike as one of those who helped in the enthronement of the president-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu.
He said, “Today, Governor Wike is one of those who are helping in the enthronement of our president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If Governor Wike wants to come to the All Progressives Congress, we will welcome him. But one thing is clear; I don’t think Nigeria wants to be a one-party country.”
