The National Protocol Director of Tinubu Campaign Council, Chief Tony Okocha, has claimed that the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is no longer the leader of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.
Okocha alleged Amaechi voted for the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25 presidential election while he was still a member of the APC.
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Okocha, who is also the Coordinator, Bola Tinubu Vanguard in the South-South, stated this while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
Okocha further said he had mobilised support in the state for the President-elect and that the party won fairly.
He alleged that the action of Amaechi was the height of anti-party activity, saying he was now the leader of the APC in Rivers, adding that “Amaechi has long abandoned the party.”
“It is clear cut and certain that our former leader, Rt Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, became the leader of the party on grounds of him being a serving Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“A day to the presidential election, he ordered his supporters to go and vote for the presidential candidate of the PDP.
“And himself, we have it on record that he voted for the candidate of the PDP, Atiku.
“That naturally disqualifies him as leader and that I, Okocha, who won election with my own faction for our presidential candidate is now the leader of APC in Rivers State,” he claimed.
Asked if the development would not deepen the crisis within the party, he said there was no crisis, but said some outsiders were making incursions into the party.
“Power is transient. So Rivers State must not go into flames. Everybody should be seen to be anti-violence,” he said.
But in a swift reaction, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Darlingron Nwauju, said Okocha was no longer a member of the APC.
Nwauju stated, “Is Tony Okocha an APC member? He is merely a member of an independent campaign outfit for Tinubu but not an APC member.
“Please ask him to mention the names of just five out of the 27 executive members of the APC in his ward. Tony is a ‘confli-preneur’ and has a history of transactional politics.
“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?
“Has he been able to account for all the monies passed through him? Even the PCC/ICC he belongs to is in disagreement with him.
“And he has not been able to assert himself on them. Please, remind Okocha that when the pillars of the APC in Nigeria will sit down to talk, he won’t be there.”