The chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker Committee in Rivers, Tony Okocha, says the party will continue to constructively criticise the Governor Siminalayi Fubara-led government in the interest of the state’s people.
Mr Okocha, who stated this on Sunday in Abuja at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) news forum, said it was APC’s responsibility to keep Mr Fubara’s administration in constant check.
He said APC, as the opposition in Rivers, would speak for the voiceless through “constructive criticisms and pointing out grey areas.”
“By so doing, we are demarketing Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” said Mr Okocha. “We are not expected to be applauding the PDP government in Rivers. Doing that means we won’t be able to win future elections in the state.”
“Our business is to constructively criticise the government and that is what is giving us an edge; otherwise, we inherited an APC that was not a party but a social club,” Mr Okocha said.
He said this was because Rotimi Amaechi, the immediate past Minister of Works and then the APC leader in Rivers, customised and colonised the party.
He said that APC’s desire was to see the ruling party and other opposition parties weakened so it could have a smooth sail in the 2027 general elections.
“We can’t allow them to be strong; we will not close our eyes and watch them become united so that they will come again with their forces like the Labour Party did with Peter Obi, its presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election,” he said.
Speaking on the Federal High Court’s dismissal of a suit seeking to replace the pro-Wike 27 lawmakers, Mr Okocha said they were not members of APC as was being insinuated.
He stated that there was no proof of the lawmakers’ registration as APC members, even at the ward level.
“They didn’t join us. I wooed them and did much more to get them to join us; I even begged them, but they refused to join us.
“I am saying this as chairman of Rivers APC caretaker committee, clearly and without mincing words, that the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers are not our members,” he said.
Pro-Wike lawmakers were reported to have defected from PDP to APC on December 12, 2023.
The court held that the suit, instituted by the Action Peoples Party (APP) and marked FHC/ABJ/CR/978/2024, was statute-barred, as it was not filed within the 14 days allowed by law.
(NAN)