Fresh crisis hits APC leadership in Rivers

A fresh crisis is brewing among the members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State.

This is as the former Chief of Staff to former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Tony Okocha has now declared himself as the leader of the APC in the state.

Okocha, in a media briefing in Port Harcourt on Sunday, claimed that his emergence as the leader of the APC in the state follows Amaechi’s alleged directive that members of the APC should vote against the then Presidential Candidate of the party, now President-elect Bola Tinubu, in the just concluded elections.

“A day before the presidential election, he ordered his supporters to vote for the candidates of the PDP. We also have it on record that he also voted for the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“That necessarily by nature disqualifies him as the leader. And that I, Chief Tony Okocha, who won election with my own faction, for our presidential candidate is now the leader of APC in Rivers State,” he claimed.

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But reacting to Okocha’s self enthronement, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Rivers State, Darlington Nwauju insisted that the former Chief of staff to Amaechi is not a member of the party in the state.

Nwauju stated that Okocha is just a member of an independent campaign outfit for Tinubu-Shettima, in the just concluded Presidential election.

He said Okocha cannot mention the names of 5 executive members of the APC in his ward, describing him as a transactional politician.

According to him, “Are you not aware that the campaign outfit which he belongs to here in Rivers State, is torn apart because of money allegedly donated to them by the Governor of Rivers State.

“Please remind Tony Okocha that when the pillars of APC in Nigeria sit to discuss, he won’t be there.

“And let us also put this on record that one million Tony Okocha’s cannot distract Rivers APC from winning the election on March 11, 2023.”

Okocha is among members of the APC in Rivers State who reportedly failed to participate in the party’s membership revalidation exercise carried out in 2021.