Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, has debunked insinuations by some aggrieved members of the party in the state that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu handed over the party’s structure to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
Okocha, who disclosed this yesterday on a live radio programme monitored in Port Harcourt, the state capital, said those making such insinuations were missing the point.
He said as a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wike has not indicated any interest in leaving the leading opposition party in the country, for any other party.
The APC chief said, “If you are talking about alliance, I aligned with Nyesom Wike and I am still aligning with him. The issue of handing over party to Nyesom Wike; he is not a member of the APC for crying out loud and everybody knows that he is staunch founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“He has boasted times without number that he has benefited a lot from the PDP and that he was not in a hurry to leave the party. I am not aware; he hasn’t mentioned to me and he has not mentioned to anybody.
“Of course, he is not a man that will hide a decision like that from Nigerians. If Wike wishes at anytime to enter any other political party different from the PDP, Nigerians will hear; Nigerians will know.
“So, as we speak, he is a staunch member of the Peoples Democratic Party. For anybody to assume that the President is handling over APC structure to a PDP member, that person will be missing the point.”
Okocha, who is also the representative of Rivers State in the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), commended the national leadership of the party, for assembling eggheads thar will take APC in the state to greater heights.
He said: “I am not alone in the business. Like I assured the national chairman, I don’t know how it happened, but I commended their wisdom in assembling eggheads and people who have been in party politics for a long time, builders, people who are worried, people who are agitated, people who want the party, APC to grow from strength to strength.
“That is what they assembled and fortunately, I am the chairman of that group. I think with the experience we have garnered over time; we will put all of these together; put them in one straight jacket and the party will move.”
