The recent move by certain chieftains of the All Progressives Congress to poach Rivers State Governor and People’s Democratic Party presidential aspirant, Nyesom Wike, has courted the anger of their colleagues in the South-South zone.
Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekeen Nabena, made the revelation on Tuesday in a statement.
Three Southwest governors had last week surfaced in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital to meet with Governor Wike in a move perceived to woo the Rivers State Governor who lost out to his Delta State counterpart, Ifeanyi Okowa in the choice of Vice Presidential candidate by the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The APC Governors from Southwest that met with Governor Wike were Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo and Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, who were believed to have visited Port Harcourt as emissaries of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Nabena who incidentally is from Bayelsa State in the south geo-political zone, however, accused them of arrogance as he maintained that the leaders of the party in the south-south region were not involved in the move to seek the support of Governor Wike ahead next presidential election.
The former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC alleged that the southwest chieftains embarked on a ” political marriage with Governor Wike,” without paying respect to the APC leaders in the zone.
He specifically mentioned former Rivers State Governor and immediate past Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi; former national Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; former Bayelsa State Governor and Minister of State Petroleum, Timipre Sylva and Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo Agege amongst those not happy that they were kept in the dark on the alleged move to woo Governor Wike to work for the APC.
He cautioned that for the APC to win general elections, all tendencies in the party must be carried along.
He said: “Osun state governorship election has come and gone but we must learn a lesson. In 2018, the then National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole, and his National Working Committee (NWC) worked so hard to defeat nature in Osun, but in 2022, nature came back with full force to take its place.
“It is a warning to the Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and others that if care is not taken, the same hand of nature will touch them.
“Sanwo-Olu recently came to South-south with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and Governor Kayode Fayemi, that cannot deliver Osun state, to woo Governor Nyesome Wike without consulting the zonal leaders of the APC.
That’s very disrespectful to our APC leaders from the Niger Delta where we have Rotimi Ameachi in Rivers state, Adams Oshiomhole from Edo state, Ovie Omo-Agege from Delta state, Chief Timipre Sylva from Bayelsa state, Ben Ayade from Cross Rivers state, who is even a governor’s colleague and my humble self. Leader in the South-south APC must be respected in every state.”
While demanding an apology from the three governors, the former APC spokesman said Osun state governorship election has shown that “together we can win, with unity we can win, not by creating a subsidiary party like Social Democratic Party (SDP) across the country.”
“So, this is a warning to the Lagos state governor Sanwo-Olu and his co-travellers that the APC South-south leaders are aware of their game plan in Rivers state but it will not work because on election day we will vote APC in all boxes; from President, National Assembly, Governor and State House of Assembly. This will also apply in other states across the country. The era of voting APC for President and vote PDP for Governor is over.”
While attributing last weekend’s defeat of the APC in Osun State to internal dissension, Nabena who listed Gombe, Kwara, Kogi, Kano and Ogun among states threatened by internal crises appealed to the APC National Working Committee to embark on genuine reconciliation before next February general elections.
“The only way out for the APC as a party is to respect leaders in every state and zone, and not just think you can arrogantly arrange your boys to install leaders anywhere like they tried to do in Bayelsa, Kogi and Rivers states by some paper weight governors from the west who solely rely on Asiwaju to win the election.
“In party politics, everyone matters, you must carry everyone along. This is a warning to the APC presidential candidate to caution his men who are already thinking of installing leaders across the state with full assurance that their oga (Tinubu) will be the next President and they (the boys) will be in charge of the party structures across the states, this must be addressed quickly.
“They must also stop seeing all those who contested primary election with them as enemies. There must always be a winner in a contest, and that is why it is a democracy. So this arrogance of power cannot do APC good because Lagos is not Nigeria, what they can do and go away within Lagos state cannot happen in entire Nigeria,” Nabena warned. (Nigerian Tribune)
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