PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria – A dispute over ministerial appointments and party leadership has sparked conflict within the Rivers State branch of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Members of the party are currently at odds with forces pushing for the immediate past governor, Nyesom Wike, to assume the party’s leadership.
APC Publicity Secretary in Rivers State, Darlington Nwauju, on Sunday, July 16, 2023, highlighted the party’s struggle to establish itself in the state, a journey that claimed several lives.
He expressed discontent over the prospect of rewarding a figure who was at the helm of the state’s affairs during the party’s turbulent times.
“We feel it is an insult, for persons who are not even members of our political party, to begin to call on the immediate past governor to come to take over our party or to be rewarded by our political party,” Nwauju said.
The Publicity Secretary further stated, “We cannot, as a political party in Rivers State, look the likes of the Adube family in the face, the likes of the Chisom Lenard family, and several other persons who were brutally killed for belonging to the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.”
Nwauju questioned whether the party is “prepared to carry the burden of mocking and dancing on the graves of these innocent people.”
Nwauju also accused Wike of sponsoring people to campaign on his behalf to join and lead the APC in Rivers State.
“Is the APC lacking in leadership? The APC has leadership. The APC is a well-structured political party across the 319 political wards,” he asserted.
Furthermore, Nwauju claimed that Tony Okocha, the Chief of Staff to former governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has been advocating for Wike to take over the party’s structure.
This includes a call for the ministerial slot for Rivers State to be awarded to Wike.
Nwauju voiced concern about the fate of other members of the party. “Now, I ask, what happened to the several qualified members of our political party? Am I not qualified to be a minister of the Federal Republic?”
As the tension continues, APC members in Rivers State are caught in a tug-of-war over who gets to lead and serve.
With these recent developments, the future of the party’s leadership in the state hangs in the balance.
