By Emegwoako C. Paschal
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has stated that it is improper and embarrassing for some of the party’s governors to meet with Governor Nyesom Wike without consulting the state chapter of the party.
The party claimed that by negotiating with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor, the governors were undermining efforts to retake the state that the APC had previously controlled.
The warning followed several trips by APC governors from the South-West zone to Wike.
The APC in Rivers State argued that it was disrespectful for the party’s governors to maintain their close relationships with Wike at the expense of the state’s APC. The party leadership referred to these actions as anti-party behavior and urged the APC national leadership to persuade the South-west governors to stop showing what it called hostile solidarity with the state governor.
The statement read,
“Visiting Wike is a disgrace to our attempts to reclaim the state.”
Sydney Nyeche, the party chairman in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, spoke after a one-day consultative meeting with stakeholders in the South-South zone was held at the APC secretariat in Port Harcourt. He said, “We find it disrespectful that while we are working for the party in the state, some group of governors from the west (South-west) will come to the state, go to Rumueprikom, and be negotiating with Nyesom Wike.
“The national chairman’s attention is being drawn to this because we won’t stand for it any longer. Enough is enough.
“We request that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party issue a warning to these western governors asking them not to visit the state to conduct negotiations with the governor. The level of humiliation we have experienced needs to end.
“Someone will come from the west to disparage our efforts, and I cannot be threatened every day because of my political beliefs. They should stop visiting the state if they are unable to join us in solidarity.”
The state APC chairman, Emeka Beke, criticized the failure to distribute 25% of the proceeds from the sale of forms to candidates in the state during the party primaries in order to strengthen the party in his own remarks.
Beke pressed the party’s national leadership for its backing. He made it clear that the state chapter would treat others how he had been treated.
Victor Giadom, the meeting’s organizer and vice chairman of the APC’s South-South zone, had earlier stated that the main goal of the gathering was to clearly understand the party’s challenges in the state and areas for improvement. Giadom committed to compiling the meeting’s report and sending it to the party’s national leadership to ensure a resolution to the issues raised.
