Ex-commissioner: Why Wike can’t lead Rivers APC

Akinwande Soji-Ojo

A former Commissioner of Power and coordinator of the now-defunct Tinubu/Shettima Grassroot Independent Campaign Council in Rivers State, Augustine Wokocha, has dismissed claims that immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike worked for President Bola Tinubu in the run-up to the February 25 presidential election.

Wokocha said Wike was welcomed to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), but former Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, remained the leader of the party in the state.

Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and four other PDP governors opposed the candidacy of their party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and insisted that the party’s national chairman at the time, Iyorchia Ayu should step aside, a call Ayu rejected.

Although Wike did not openly campaign for Tinubu, who was then the presidential candidate of the APC, reports said he asked his supporters to work for the party.

Rcently, there are insinuations that Wike may be given an appointment by the president, having visited him at the villa multiple times after Tinubu’s inauguration.

A former Chief of Staff at the Rivers State Government House, Chief Tony Okocha, had at a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Thursday called on Wike to defect to the APC and lead the party in the state.

Responding, Wokocha at a pressure conference in Port Harcourt on Friday said Okocha’s claims that the former governor solely delivered the state to Tinubu in the last election and deserved to be rewarded was untrue.

“The victory of Bola Tinubu in the last election in Rivers State cannot be given to one individual. It is a combination of the over 200,000 votes from Rivers State, who voted for the man who is our President today.

“I ran the campaign for the Tinubu election. I can’t remember anywhere, anytime when the immediate past governor of Rivers State canvassed any support for the president.

“I can’t remember any forum when he referred to the candidate of our party. He did not direct his people to vote for him, to my knowledge. So I don’t know what Okocha meant by Wike immensely contributed to Tinubu’s Victory. So, it is important we continue to appreciate Rivers people. Of course, people worked and those who did the canvassing to convince people that Tinubu was a better candidate also deserve our appreciation and gratitude,” he said.

Wokocha said though he was not opposed to Wike joining the APC if he desires to, the party had a leader and was not in search of one.

“Candidly, politics is the more the merrier. So, Wike coming to the APC is a welcome development. What is an aberration is to say Wike should come and take over the party. This is the same party that its members were hounded like grasshoppers by the man who is being invited to join the party today.

“It was the same Wike who said APC is cancer stage four and the PDP is malaria. But he is welcome if he has suddenly realised that our cancer is better than the malaria he is suffering from,” Wokocha added.

He said it would be a major disservice to the people of the state to say Wike should come and lead the APC in Rivers State.

The former commissioner emphasised that Amaechi remained the leader of the party in the state and that this was not in dispute.

He said Tinubu had started well and that anyone who gets an appointment would be celebrated.

“But nobody should take credit that is not their own and take claims that are not theirs. We won’t allow our people to be misled,”Wokocha added.