The chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Emeka Beke, has urged the National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, to overturn the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) to dissolve the party’s leadership in the state.
Speaking in Port Harcourt on Thursday, Beke emphasized that the tenure of the party’s executive in the state has not yet expired.
Earlier, the Ganduje-led APC NWC had announced the dissolution of the Rivers State executives, appointing a caretaker committee to oversee the party’s activities for a period of six months.
Notably, Chief Tony Okocha, the appointed head of the caretaker committee, has ties to the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor, Nyesom Wike, who is currently in a national coalition with the APC.
It is worth mentioning that President Bola Tinubu appointed Wike from the PDP as the Rivers minister, overlooking APC members such as Tonye Cole, who was the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 general elections and is an ally of former governor Rotimi Amaechi, Wike’s main political rival in the state.
Regarding the dissolution of the Rivers APC executives, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Mouka, announced, “We have resolved at the NWC meeting that Rivers APC should be dissolved and a caretaker committee put in place. The committee will have Chief Tony Okocha as chairman and Eric Nwibani as Secretary.”
In response to the decision, Emeka, the ousted chairman of the Rivers APC, cited the party’s constitution, stating that only the National Executive Committee (NEC) has the authority to dissolve an elected state executive committee.
Expressing his surprise at the NWC’s assertion of power, Emeka remarked, “What does the constitution of the party say? Only the NEC has the moral right. I am surprised the NWC said it has that power. I don’t think there is any time the NEC gave them (NWC) the power to do that. It is so shocking and surprising.”
