Despite the ongoing legal tussle against the dissolution of State Working Committee (SWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, political gladiators are already scheming to outsmart one another in the titanic battle that will make or mar the future of the party in Rivers, ANN GODWIN reports.

The battle for the soul of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers States has renewed political rivalry among former governors, Rotimi Amaechi, Nyesom Wike and Senator Magnus Abe.

Ironically, the troika cut their political teeth in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But with time, three of them climbed high on the political ladder, with two becoming chief executives of the state at different times, while the third ended up as a Senator with eyes on the governorship seat. Some residents of the state refer to them as three musketeers.

Following political developments in the state ahead of the 2023 general elections, Wike as the sitting PDP governor led the G-5 governors to campaign for the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the President and the inability of Rivers APC to win the governorship election, there are new political realignment that have subdued APC structure in the state.

Many analysts saw the state exco led by Emeka Beke as a weakling that could no longer provide effective leadership for the party given the influx of political gladiators dumping their parties for the APC.

Beke and his other exco members are believed to be loyalists of Amaechi, who has been on the wrong side of the party after the presidential election.

Amaechi, one of APC’s founding fathers, resigned from former President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet to contest for the party’s presidential ticket with Tinubu and others. But after losing the primary, Amaechi developed cold feet towards the presidential campaign that produced Tinubu, leaving Wike to lead the presidential campaign in the state.

Amaechi deployed his efforts and resources for the party to win other elections in the state, which did not produce the desired results.

Despite the perceived cold war between Amaechi and the national leadership of the party and the president, Beke had on August 26, 2023, led some leaders of the party in the state, including the governorship candidate of the party in the last election, Tonye Cole and Dr Dakuku Peterside to visit Abdulahi Ganduje, who was confirmed as the national chairman of the party on August 3, 2023, by the NEC of the party.

However, that did not stop the national leadership of APC from dissolving Beke-led exco on November 24, 2023, and replacing it with a seven-man caretaker committee led by Tony Okocha believed to be an ally of Wike.

The national spokesperson of the party, Felix Morka, said the caretaker committee would be in office for six months to conduct a comprehensive and fresh electronic party registration for all members of the state.

He said: “The caretaker committee, subject to the directives of the NWC, was entrusted with preparing for the conduct of congresses to facilitate the emergence of new executive committees for the party at various levels, extending from the ward to the state.”

But the Publicity Secretary of the dissolved exco, Darlington Nwauju, said there was no justification for dissolving the exco because there was no crisis in the party. He said: “There was no reason at all for dissolving the party executives in the state. When you talk about crises and people’s management, remember that we came to visit him (Ganduje); he didn’t invite us. So, after that visit, if there were issues that he felt we should sort out and he wanted to help us resolve, why were we not invited? Why were we not part of the process that led to this final decision on dissolution?

“You can see that the party was not carried along; the decision was taken to wipe off the entire validly elected structure. Will you now face the 1,421 delegates who voted for me across the 219 wards in River State that you had set aside their votes?
“The man whom Ganduje announced as the chairman of the caretaker committee refused to revalidate his membership in the party. So, his name is not on the party’s register at the national secretariat. Your announcing such a person as chairman of a caretaker committee shows that the party lacks institutional memory. Telling us you have dissolved validly elected executives of the party is not just an insult to our sensibility as human beings but an affront to the constitution of the APC, to which we all subscribe. If you look at what it entails to be a member of the APC as stated in Article 9, there is a specific tenure for the executive, and it is within the jurisdiction of the NWC to dissolve but not that of the NEC.”

Not satisfied with the development and the manner the national leadership hijacked the party structure from them, the Beke-led state exco has approached an Abuja High Court and a Port Harcourt High Court to challenge the dissolution and request the courts to interpret the constitution of the APC.

Even when the powers that be in Abuja favour Wike to control the APC structure in the state, the Minister of FCT is still a bona fide member of the PDP. Although many have argued that most of his political foot soldiers have decamped to the APC. Indeed, 27 state lawmakers loyal to him had in December last year officially switched their allegiance to the APC. They cited an internal crisis within the PDP for their action.

Political analysts have expressed concerns about how the three gladiators with their egos and ambitions would stay under one party without further bickering.

Amaechi has not spoken about the dissolution of the exco loyal to him, creating suspense among party members. Abe is yet to inform the public if he has buried his governorship ambition, which Wike and Amaechi may not support.

While Abe was defecting to the APC, he said he was doing so to support the government of President Bola Tinubu and ensure that Rivers people benefit from the development at the centre.

Abe said: “My coming to APC is to work together with other members of the party to ensure grow

th, inclusion, prosperity and progress for Rivers State and Rivers people.  If we all have the same mind, we will achieve the objective,” acknowledging that: “We are very strong characters, none of the people in the party is a walk over but if we can all agree and come together, there’s no other force again in Rivers that can stop us. We are the ones who always stop each other, so I believe that if we can find common ground, which we have found in the APC, there will be peace for everyone.

“By now, everybody who is part of APC should have learnt something, it is time to see how we can make the party work, we are coming back with open minds and we are ready to work with everybody within the party, I believe that everybody who is sincerely interested in the progress of APC will be ready to work together.”

Responding to the news of Abe’s return to APC, Okocha said, Abe was one of the founding members of APC but left to pursue an ambition, which brought him to the end of the road. He assured that the party welcomes him back and would work together with him

However, Wike’s open rift with Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his romance with APC have opened another window for realignment with some PDP forces that had fallen apart with the Minister. The likes of Abiye Sekibo, Evans Bipi, Austin Opara, Celestine Omehia and even former governor, Dr Peter Odili’s are pitching tents with Fubara to rebuild the party.

Speaking on the current alignment and realignment, a Research/Development and Policy Expert, Sunny Dada, said, “The status of Wike right now is a political leprosy, there are serious Iroko trees waiting for him in APC and also in PDP.  The people who are angry with him are just waiting for him in the APC because they can’t cope with his domineering spirit.”

He noted that Amaechi’s camp looks quiet at the moment but stated the former minister remains the arrowhead of the progressive block in the state.

Also, another Policy and Public Affairs Analyst, Jude Ndubuisi, described the current movement of the gladiators to APC as an interesting game to watch ahead of 2027. He said, “As we move on towards 2027, things will become clearer, politicians in Rivers State prefer politics to governance. The problem we have in Rivers is that we don’t have the elite’s consensus, where there should be a point of agreement without breaking the bonds of unity, it is an interesting game to watch.”

He, however, advised politicians not to play politics that will damage the investment climate. “In the past years, whenever Rivers State is mentioned, what comes to mind is a hotbed for crisis, but it’s time we begin to play politics that will not affect our environment.”

For Mrs Patience Osorojiji, a frontline politician in the state, the three musketeers have the moral burden of how to accommodate their indiscipline, egos and ambition as they move to one political party.

A chieftain of APC, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze and an ardent loyalist to Amaechi, it is laughable to see that Wike and Abe are jostling for the Rivers APC structure.

Eze, erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), said the duo were conspirators in the fight against the party.

However, political watchers have predicted a tough contest for control of the structure of the party at the expiration of the six months given to the caretaker committee to complete its assignment.

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