The All Progressives Congress, or APC, is experiencing a new crisis among its members in Rivers State.
This is because Tony Okocha, the former chief of staff to former governor Rotimi Amaechi, has now formally assumed the position of APC leader in the state.
In a press conference with the media on Sunday in Port Harcourt, Okocha claimed that Amaechi’s alleged order for APC members to vote against the party’s then-presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in the recently concluded elections was the reason for his ascent to the position of APC leader in the state.
“He instructed his supporters to cast their ballots for the PDP candidates the day before the presidential election. We also have it on record that he cast a vote for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP candidate.
“It automatically disqualifies him from being the leader. And that I, Chief Tony Okocha, who won the election for our presidential candidate with my own faction, am now in charge of the APC in Rivers State,” he asserted.
Yet in response to Okocha’s self-proclamation, the APC’s publicity secretary in Rivers State, Darlington Nwauju, stated that the former Amaechi chief of staff is not a party member in the state.
According to Nwauju, Okocha is merely a supporter of Tinubu-independent Shettima’s campaign organization in the recently concluded presidential election.
He referred to Okocha as a transactional politician and claimed that he was unable to name the five executive members of the APC who are located in his ward.
He said, “Are you not aware that the Rivers State campaign organization to which he belongs is in shambles as a result of money purportedly supplied to them by the Governor of Rivers State.
“Please remind Tony Okocha that he won’t be present when the APC’s Nigerian pillars meet to discuss.
Let’s also state for the record that Rivers APC cannot be defeated on March 11, 2023, despite the distraction of a million Tony Okochas.
Okocha is one of the APC members in Rivers State who allegedly skipped out on the party’s membership revalidation process in 2021.