New crisis hits Rivers APC over Tinubu

A new crisis rocks the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress after a meeting to plan the planned campaign of the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Port Harcourt on Feb. 15, 2023, ended in deadlock on Friday .

Also, some members of the APC PCC led by the coordinator of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Vanguard, popularly called BAT Vanguard in South-South, Chief Tony Okocha, stormed out of the meeting.

The meeting, which was said to be the first requested by APC state gubernatorial candidate Tonye Cole, failed to meet its goal due to a disagreement over key issues within the party, including a lack of proper consultation and cohesion.

It was believed that Tonye Cole, who ran the meeting, failed to show up due to alleged ill health and delegated Rt. Hon Sekonte Davies, former Member of the House of Representatives and former Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Nigeria Ports Authority, to chair the meeting.

Sekonte also served as the first and only director, finance and administration of APC Buhari’s presidential campaign organization.

But it was believed that in addition to appointing non-members of the PCC and ICC as chairs of the seven committees that Cole set up from his campaign council, Sekonte “is neither a member of the PCC nor ICC”, hence the strike from the meeting.

Speaking to reporters during the strike, Okocha expressed dismay that Cole never called for a meeting of the PCC and ICC where he would have been introduced to the authentic members of the two groups.

Okocha stated that Sekonte Davies cannot chair the meeting because he was not a member of any of the groups.

He stated: “The meeting on Friday was for the PCC and the ICC members. Unfortunately the people we saw there were not PCC or ICC members when we got there.

“We also found out that the seven committees he (Tonye Cole) set up, I’m the only one he made chairman of the civil society organizations of this other side.

“He called before the meeting and couldn’t attend because he wasn’t feeling well. Sekonte cannot chair a meeting of which he is not a member.

“That is what informed our strike. We have moved on and we are making serious plans for the Tinubu/Shettima campaign rally on February 15.”

Okocha noted that Cole was carrying luggage that needed to be sorted as soon as possible.

He went on to say that Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike had accused the PDP of hobnobbing with APC in the state, saying, “Go around the state, you will find there is not a billboard, posters or banner featuring Tonye Cole and that of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s photos together”.

“The moral question to ask is who does Tonye Cole support as a presidential candidate? These are some of the issues we would discuss at the meeting if he had come in person.

But in a quick response, Sekonte Davies said the meeting that Okocha and his group walked out of was not a PCC meeting, but an APC meeting.

He stated: “It is a meeting organized by Rivers APC in preparation for the organization of the National Campaign rally set for February 15.

“It is by no means a PCC meeting. I am not a PCC member. And even if I’m a member, what do I have to do if I’ve been presidential campaign finance and administration director?

“So whatever insinuations people make that Sekonte Davies is going to chair a PCC meeting, I am qualified to chair a PCC meeting because I have held senior office. So it’s not the problem.

“What I have been appointed to chair is the APC committee to organize the national meeting of the APC where all our candidates starting from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as our presidential candidate would be showcased.

“We have Asita Honorable as a Senate candidate for Rivers West. We have dr. Ndubuisi Nwankwo as our Senate candidate for Rivers East. We have Amber. Oji Ngofa as our Senate candidate for Rivers South-East.

“Then we have 13 parliamentary candidates. Then we have our candidate for governor, Eight Tonye Cole and 32 candidates for the State House of Assembly. That is what APC Rivers State stands for.”

Further, he said. “Anyone who claims otherwise is not in this group. He is not a member of APC. That is the truth.

“If you are an NGO, you support one group, that is allowed. In APC, we recognize NGOs that support candidates of their choice.

“Such people should not come and pretend to be for APC. We are campaigning, we have campaigned and we are campaigning and will campaign and we are planning for the APC’s victory from February 25 to March 11, all elections.

“We have five elections. Three on February 25, the elections for the president, senate and house of representatives. And two on March 11, the elections for governor and the House of Representatives.

“These are the things we are preparing for and I am chairman of the rally, and that is it. So anyone who says otherwise is sparing with the truth.’