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The battle for suppremacy between Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, minister of transportation and Senator Magnus Abe over who will clinch the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress is likely to make it easy for the Peoples’ Democratic Party to win the guber election in Rivers State in 2019

By Emeka Ejere

With unfolding events suggesting no end in sight to the crisis rocking the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, one cannot but wonder how the party will achieve the goal of wresting power from a more united Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state early next year.

Except a last-ditch effort to broker peace is achieved, the party is headed for rancorous primary to nominate its governorship candidate for 2019 general election.

But peace appears to be even more elusive with the approval Tuesday of indirect primaries for Rivers State by the APC National Working Committee, NWC as against the direct primaries early approved by the National Executive Committee, NEC.

Since early 2017, the APC has remained fractured due to the tussle between Chibuike Amaechi, minister of transportation,  who doubles as South-South and Rivers State leader of the party and Magnus Abe, senator representing Rivers South-East.

Amaechi’s unwavering resolve not to soften his censure stance on Abe’s governorship ambition and alleged tactical exclusion of perceived Abe’s supporters during the APC state congresses, had prompted a legal dispute that has further deepened the rumpus.

This has led to the establishment of two parallel secretariats along Aba Road in Port Harcourt. Like on other major issues in the past, the two factions are at skirmish over the mode of primaries to be adopted in the state.

While the pro-Amaechi state executive committee led by Ojukaye Flag-Amachree adopted the indirect primary mode, the pro-Abe executive, led by Peter Odike, is insisting on direct primaries.

Flag-Amachree hinged the decision by his executive on issues of insecurity in the state and lack of membership database of all APC members in the state, despite recently conducting Ward, Local Government and State congresses that are now subjects of litigation.

But for Abe, Rivers is one of those states where the APC cannot have indirect primaries. He asserted that the party’s entire structure in the state is embroiled in legal controversy with about four or five court cases.

His words: “So, if indirect primaries was to be adopted, which particular list of delegates will be used and for which particular congress,” he queried.

“They say where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit. What you call indirect primaries is a situation where known party members meet in a place to elect candidates.

“These known party members are invariably part of an already organised structure. So, when people have control of such structure, the entire exercise is predetermined because they already know whom they are going to elect.”

Reacting to the approval of indirect primaries for Rivers State on Tuesday, Abe said the NWC’s decision on the matter could not override the decision of the party’s  NEC, which sanctioned direct primaries.

He recalled that APC’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, had listed Rivers as one of the states to adopt direct primaries because of many legal issues facing the party in the state.

“We shall present our facts before the NWC in order to ensure that the right thing is done in the state,” Abe said.

At least four candidates are contending to become the party’s torchbearer in the 2019 general elections. They include Dumo Lulu-Briggs,  Abe, Dewari George and Tonye Cole, who is now the anointed candidate of Amaechi.

Apparently, the lingering impasse is not clearing out soon as both factions have continued to lay claim to party leadership in the state.

While addressing party members at the commissioning of the Odike-led state executive committee parallel secretariat, Abe had maintained that  since a State High Court voided the party’s congresses and ordered the party to return to status quo, it would only be rationale for aggrieved sides to align with Odike’s faction.

The acting-chairman

In as much as the two factions believe that Amaechi, who is the immediate past governor of Rivers State, is the leader of the party in the state and in the South-South geopolitical zone, the Abe group is aggrieved over alleged plans by the minister to deny the senator the party’s governorship ticket.

Declaring himself acting chairman of the APC during a media briefing at the Freedom House, Odike, who was in company of some former members of the State Working Committee, SWC, of the party, stated that the election of Flag-Amachree as state chairman of the party had been voided by the court.

His words: “As you are very much aware, the APC Congress in Rivers State has been mired in controversy, culminating in two court orders, which were roundly disobeyed by the Flag-Amachree faction of the party led by Amaechi.

“True to their threat to disobey the court order, they proceeded with the congress. Later, on their own still, they cancelled the congress, rescheduled all and held them in a succession of weekend days of Saturday, Sunday and early Monday.

“They now claim that Flag-Amachree is the new Rivers APC chairman arising from the said weekend-midnight congress.

“Our party faithful, who went to court to protest their unlawful exclusion, returned to the court to complain of the illegality of holding the congress in defiance of the order of the court. They urged the court to void the obviously illegal exercise and the court did.

“In unambiguous words, the court declared as null and void the purported ward, local government and state congresses which produced Flag-Amachree and his group. With the voiding of the Flag-Amachree midnight congress, our State Working Committee which they sought to succeed is still in place and intact.

“Since the court has decided that no congresses have been held with the voiding of the so called congresses, the Dr. Davis Ikanya led-executive committee will continue with its work of running the party.

“However, the chairman, Dr. Ikanya is in London, United Kingdom, for his eyes medical examination and treatment. I communicated with him on this development over the weekend. I wish him speedy recovery.

“And as stipulated in the provisions of the APC constitution, the deputy chairman acts on the chairman’s behalf pending his resumption. Other members of the Working Committee and I have met. We agreed that we should not allow APC Rivers State to die; not even by suicide.

“Consequently, I announce to you this morning that I, Prince Peter Odike, JP, the deputy chairman of the APC in Rivers State, pending the return and resumption of duty by the chairman, is the acting chairman of the APC Rivers State.”

But, in a swift reaction, Warisenibo Chris Finebone, publicity secretary of the APC in the state,   said the party is one under the chairmanship of Flag-Amachree and the leadership of the minister of transportation.

Finebone said,  “Our reaction will expectedly and advisedly be measured. The reason is that any matter that is directly or indirectly in court should not suffer subjudice one way or the other due to the indiscretion of persons involved.

“What happened this morning is a classic case of delusion of grandeur. It is like climbing the tallest building in town and proclaiming, ‘I am now Pope Francis of the Catholic Church, all Catholics must recognise me.’

“Sadly that is not how the world works except in the world of the kindergarten that plays in the sand. We wish them well in their house of exile.

“Be informed that not even an eventual creation of a faction of the party in Rivers State, which they have been struggling to achieve will get them anywhere. They should ponder this deeply.”

The provocative rally

Recall that on June 9, eleven days before he declared himself as the acting chairman, Odike had issued a statement advising APC members not to attend a rally being organised by the party in Bera community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, the hometown of Abe.

The rally was held to receive some prominent members of the ruling PDP who defected to the APC. Also, the senator, in his own statement issued in Port Harcourt by his spokesman, Parry Saro Benson, described the rally, that was later graced by Amaechi as “provocative and being organised by a faction of the APC.”

While calling on the good people of Gokana and Ogoni at large to remain peaceful and law-abiding in the face of provocation, Abe insisted that the Flagg-Amachree-led executive of the APC has been voided by the court and has no legal right to speak or act on behalf of the APC in Rivers State.

He said, “It has come to my notice that the Ojukaye Flagg-Amachree-led factional executive, a group that has been voided by the court is planning to hold a rally in Gokana today. I urge you all to ignore them as their efforts will yield no benefits.

“This is a grand design by some unscrupulous politicians in the area to instigate violence amongst us. I, therefore, urge you to go about your normal business as no individual or group could stop a people whose time has come.”

It is definitely clear from the foregoing that all is not well with the APC in Rivers State and the earlier the national leadership of the party wades in to nip the crisis in the bud, the better.

Analysts say if Amaechi succeeds in undemocratically dislodging Abe, the cost will far outweigh the benefit as Abe’s supporters may begin to work against the party as a way of getting back at the minister.

One of them, Ibiba Tonye, a political analyst, said, “With Amaechi’s hostility towards Abe who is the only APC Senator from Rivers State, PDP might still retain the lion’s share of seats in the 2019 National and State Assembly elections, including even the much coveted office of the governor of Rivers State.”

For them, Amaechi is left with two options. He can choose to concentrate on ousting Wike by allowing internal democracy in his own party, with a view to putting up in unison a good fight against the PDP or he can as well prefer to remain persistent in his ‘Abe must not run’ project and risk suffering a worse defeat than he did in 2015.

It is unlikely that indirect primaries tomorrow could guarantee the much desired peace.

– Sept. 27, 2018 @ 18:45 GMT |

Tags: 2019: Why APC will lose Guber Election in Rivers State