The National Protocol Director of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Chief Tony Okocha, has asserted that former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi is no longer the leader of the APC in Rivers State. Oka cha, who also serves as the Coordinator of the Bola Tinubu Vanguard in the South‑South, told reporters in Port Harcourt on Sunday that Amaechi voted for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar in the February 25 presidential election while still an APC member. He described Amaebi’s action as the “height of anti‑party activity,” adding that Amaebi has “long abandoned the party.”
According to Okocha, Amaebi’s leadership was based solely on his status as a serving federal minister. “A day before the presidential election, he ordered his supporters to vote for the PDP candidate and, we have it on record, he himself voted for Atiku,” Okocha said. “That naturally disqualifies him as leader, and I, having won the election with my own faction for our presidential candidate, am now the leader of the APC in Rivers State.” He also claimed to have mobilised support for the president‑elect in the state and affirmed that the party won fairly.
When asked whether this development would deepen the crisis within the party, Okocha denied any crisis, suggesting that “some outsiders are making incursions into the party.” He warned that “power is transient, so Rivers State must not go into flames,” and urged everyone to adopt an anti‑violence stance.
In response, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Darlingron Nwauju, said Okocha is no longer an APC member. Nwauju clarified, “Is Tony Okocha an APC member? He is merely a member of an independent campaign outfit for Tinubu, not an APC member.” He challenged Okocha to name five of the 27 executive members of the APC in his ward, labeling him a “confli‑preneur” with a history of transactional politics. Nwauju also raised concerns about the campaign outfit’s finances, alleging that money allegedly donated by the Rivers State governor has not been accounted for, and that even the PCC/ICC to which Okocha belongs is in disagreement with him. He concluded, “When the pillars of the APC in Nigeria sit down to talk, he won’t be there.”
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