Three factions of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State are bickering over calls for former governor Nyesom Wike to defect to the party and lead the state chapter.
While the faction led by Tony Okocha has publicly pleaded with Wike to join their fold and lead them, alleging that the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) does not appreciate his influence and pedigree, the state coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Grassroots Independent Campaign Council (ICC) in the last presidential election, Augustine Wokocha, has stated that there was nothing wrong in the former governor joining the party if he decides to but insisted that Wike could not be the leader of the party in the state.
Wokocha noted that the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, remains the only known leader of the party in the state.
He added that the likes of Senator Magnus Abe, before his defection to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was also leader while himself led some groups within the party.
On their part, another faction of the party led by its 2023 governorship candidate in the state, Tonye Cole, described the calls on Wike to defect as the handiwork of imposters and sponsored groups which he alleged were acting as fronts for the former governor.
Spokesman of the group, Darlington Nwauju, in a statement yesterday, said nothing could be more preposterous than what he called “this kite being flown by minions of Wike working hard to justify their pay cheque.”
Nwauju alleged that Wike’s move to join the APC was a scheme to escape justice over the looting of the collective patrimony of Rivers people, saying that has been his major reason for the romance with top APC members.
