By Deborah Nnamdi
The rival faction of the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, loyal to Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has hit back at Tony Okocha, another factional chairman of the party, for asking Governor Siminalayi Fubara to resign or be impeached.
Naija Daily News reported that Okocha had on Monday called on governor Siminalayi Fubara to immediately resign or face impeachment, saying no investigation panel was needed because, according to him, the Supreme Court had already stated the facts.
Okocha, who is heavily backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike in the battle against Fubara, told journalists that he is the voice of the voiceless and the voice of opposition in Rivers State.
Meanwhile, the rival faction of the party loyal to Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and headed by Chief Emeka Bekee, has pulled the rug off Okocha’s feet, saying the APC executive committee he is standing on has since been nullified for conducting the election that threw him up as chairman against court order.
Okocha said Fubara conducted LGA elections contrary to Federal High Court order, but Darlington Nwauju, publicity secretary of the Emeka Beke-led APC elected exco, reminded Okocha that he too is standing outside the law.
He said Okocha’s caretaker committee (CTC) was nullified by the court but that he held on without a valid court counterorder. He also said the High Court in Port Harcourt ordered the APC not to hold the congress that brought Okocha in but that he (Okocha) relied on the support of a strong man to go ahead and hold the congress and emerged as state chairman in rivalry to a court-recognized state executive council.
He said the High Court also reviewed the actions and nullified the state executive he formed based on disobedience to court order, but that he (Okocha) has continued to serve and reign outside the law.
Reacting to Okocha’s call for Fubara to resign immediately or be impeached, Nwauju said: “Our response: Recall that part of the grounds which the Supreme Court latched on to sustain the FHC judgment that nullified the local government elections in Rivers State was that election went ahead despite the court’s judgment stopping the process.
“Now, our question is — if we are not a people suffering from collective amnesia in Rivers State, why must a Tony Okocha, who is still parading himself as chairman of the APC in Rivers against the judgment of the court, now be the person pontificating over abuse of or disobedience to court process?
“What kind of physician goes about healing others while needing a health emergency? The likes of Tony Okocha are conflict entrepreneurs as far as the political saga in Rivers State is concerned and posterity will not forget the ignoble roles he is playing in dismantling democracy and the rule of law in Rivers State!”
In a previous statement regarding Fubara’s attack, Nwauju accused Okocha of being unable to account for his time at the NDDC since his ‘unfortunate’ appointment. “He steadily deploys reverse psychology to pull the wool over the eyes of Rivers people to hide his visionless stray into the NDDC.
“But this “pot that has made it a duty always to call the kettle black” must know that we understand his antics, and we sound it as a warning to him that Rivers people deserve accountability for his lackluster tenure at the NDDC and we shall henceforth begin an expose on several fraudulently awarded projects begging explanations linked to him.
“Having maintained a steady voyage reeking in inconsistency, how do we even bother responding to a man who once said “the 27 members of the State Assembly are now in APC only a month later, the same person on national TV claimed they never defected but that he only tried to woo them? How can someone who does not know the color of our party register now tell the world who has left or joined the party? What can a cockroach possibly be saying in the gathering of fowls?”
The publicity secretary urged Nigerians not to continue to consult Okocha on matters relating to the APC in Rivers State.
