The Caretaker Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Sir Tony Okocha has stated that his faction of the party would not allow the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi to use the party to fight the reelection of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.

He stated this at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja while briefing the media on the development of the party in Rivers.

According to him, all the court manoeuvring is for Amaechi to hijack APC in Rivers State in other to use it fight against Tinubu.

A Rivers State High Court had on Monday sacked the caretaker committee and in its place reinstated Emeka Beke as Chairman, however the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC on Thursday said Okocha remains the Chairman of the party in Rivers State.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, Okocha said Emeka Beke and one Iheanyichukwu Dike had long been suspended from the State Working Committee SWC on allegations of engaging in anti-party activities.

He said the APC was never part of the said suit and that only its National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje was listed, saying it was wrong for the trial judge to have made orders on parties who were never joined in the suit.

Okocha said; “Beke was imposed on the APC in Rivers state. I was a member, an ally of Senator Magnus Abe when he was fighting right inside the APC.

“The reason why we fought was ineptitude, political high-handedness and imposition. Beke was a product of these three issues but was imposed by the then APC leader, Rotimi Amaechi.

“The truth of the matter is that the party has a lot intellectuals, professionals and lecturers.

“We imagine how a person of lowly academic qualifications can preside over a meeting that some of us would attend but the APC leader then said they wanted somebody who had street boy mentality.

“But the truth was that he wanted a surrogate, a stooge who would do his bidding. We fought but the APC leader was then a minister and his vestiges were here as leaders of the party.

“At the presidential primaries of the APC, Beke was the person who led the Rivers delegation of 56 delegates to vote for Rotimi Amaechi. That was how they scored 56 from the state.

“There is an intention to throw up Amaechi’s man and then he (Amaechi) becomes the APC leader and then use the APC to fight Mr President in 2027. We will never allow that.

“Beke has shot himself in the leg by also referring to Amaechi as leader of the party in Rivers and the South South; a man who refused to cooperate with President Tinubu then as presidential candidate; a man who worked for the opposition.

“Amaechi and his group aligned with PDP’s Atiku while Wike and his group from the PDP worked with us. After we won the election, Amaechi addressed the Press that Tinubu nominated the INEC Chairman and that the INEC Chairman worked with the current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike when he was at TETFUND and Wike was Education minister. That person cannot be leader of the APC.

“He is the same person who warned our secretary to never invite him for any APC meeting. APC Rivers will never go back to the social club status that it used to be.

“As far as we are concerned, this is the court of first instance and we had known the end from the beginning. If we had known the end from the beginning, why should we be perturbed by that court judgment.

“We knew and that was why we went ahead with our programmes, the solidarity rally for Mr President.

“We are in court. We are law abiding. At our level, even when a judgment is gotten from the toilet, we will abide by it. But we have applied to the court of appeal for a stay of execution and an invalidation of that judgment.

“We are not fighting fisticuffs. We will use the law and we are ready to go the whole hug to the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court had ruled before that the courts should not meddle in the internal affairs of the party. The task of picking a party chairman is an internal affair of the party,” he stated. (New Telegraph)

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