Rivers APC Groping in Political Wilderness

Blessing Ibunge ponders what will become the future of the members of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State against the backdrop of President Bola Tinubu’s romance with the Peoples Democratic Party in the state

One state where members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are not happy with President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the party is Rivers State. Ever since the days of the presidential campaign for the 2023 general election, the party’s prominent members have felt relegated following the president’s romance with former governor Nyesom Wike, a key figure in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Tinubu had reportedly snubbed prominent APC members in the state to parley Wike. The party’s leadership under Abdullahi Ganduje seems to have aggravated the situation with its disregard for the APC in the state.

Wike was alleged during his tenure to have made extensive efforts to undermine the APC and its members in the state. Despite the party’s participation in state elections and the presence of its governorship candidate, Mr. Tonye Cole, who is currently contesting the election outcome in court, not one of its members was considered for federal appointments.

During the president’s visit to the state for his presidential campaign, the APC leaders, including Cole were present to receive him. The only notable member absent was the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who had contested for the party’s presidential ticket with Tinubu. 

However, after the presidential campaign rally, APC members felt sidelined as Tinubu chose to visit Wike at the Government House, Port Harcourt, where they had a private discussion. He was accompanied by the then APC national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and other top officials of the party.

After he won the presidential election, Tinubu visited Rivers again, to honour an invitation by Wike to unveil some state government projects. The state’s APC leadership was notably absent. The APC leadership had previously clarified in a statement that the president-elect was on a private visit based on Wike’s invitation.

The statement, which was signed by the party’s publicity secretary, Darlington Nwauju, reads in part: “While the Rivers State Chapter of the APC wholeheartedly welcomes our president-elect and appreciates his work ethics of getting firsthand knowledge of the various sub-nationals, we however wish to clarify that this is a private visit on the invitation of the Rivers State Government controlled by the PDP and has nothing to do with the APC in Rivers State.”

To the party’s governorship candidate, Cole, the members of the APC in the state were absent from the two-day visit of the president-elect because no invitation was extended to them.

Speaking on a national television, Cole had reportedly said: “Where the issue is, is that the governor of Rivers State, Wike, ought also to be the governor of all Rivers people. And one of the things that he should have done if he is inviting the president-elect, who is the president-elect of all Nigerians, would have been to call us as APC in Rivers State to inform us that he is inviting the president-elect and would want us to be part of that programme.

“We never got any invitation. I was never invited personally, I was not invited in my private capacity as a candidate of the party, neither was our party, the APC in the state, invited to any of those things.”

During the election, many APC supporters were reportedly killed, while others suffered injuries and humiliations. Today, APC members are said to be disenchanted with Tinubu for neglecting them despite all they had suffered in the hands of the PDP.

Many analysts in the state ponder what will become of the future of APC members in the state against the backdrop of the ongoing romance between Wike and President Tinubu.

An official of the APC in the state, who did not want his name on print told THISDAY that after the APC members sacrificed their lives to keep the party since 2015, Tinubu seems to have turned his back on them rather than give them succour as was the case under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

 APC members in the state are lamenting that the appointment of former Governor Wike of the PDP into Tinubu’s cabinet as Minister of FCT was strong evidence of the total disregard he has for the party members in the state.

The source said: “Tinubu’s actions have finally crushed what is left of the APC or are driving the nail into the coffin of the party in the state. It is unlikely that the president has forgotten so quickly that it was under the Wike-led PDP in Rivers State that the APC was almost frozen and given several death blows which significantly paralysed activities of the party in the state from 2015 up until 2019 and beyond.

“Several observers who are very familiar with the political history of the APC in Rivers are worried about the sudden romance of President Tinubu with PDP’s Wike to the detriment of his own party in the state which he personally courted in 2014.”

The source added: “It is well within the president’s right and powers to appoint anyone who he considers fit into his cabinet irrespective of political, social, ethnic or religious leanings.

“However, it is equally imperative for the president to understand that such moves shouldn’t be done at the expense of his party and that such actions should have been guided by conscience and the constitutional provisions of his party. Article 9 (3) (iii) of the APC constitution clearly provides for rewards and compensation to party members by APC-led governments at all levels.

 “The president as leader of his party is bound by conscience and constitution of his party to give members of his party a sense of belonging in his government whether or not he feels their efforts were not enough to have contributed to his victory.”

But many analysts believe the Rivers APC is paying for the sins of former Transportation Minister, Amaechi, who was not only locked in a bitter political rivalry with Tinubu during Buhari’s tenure but also contested against him in the APC presidential primary.

Amaechi built the current APC structure in the state and political analysts believe that it is unlikely that Tinubu will work with members of Amaechi’s political structure.

It is being speculated that Wike might have resigned his membership of the PDP and officially joined the APC but chose not to make it public so as to continue to inflict collateral damage on PDP’s fortunes.

Recently, a group, Concerned Youths of Rivers State APC, took to the streets in a protest, claiming that “we have observed with total dismay, shock and a deep sense of abandonment at the continued neglect of members of the APC in Rivers State; most especially we, the younger generation.”

In an open letter handed to journalists, they expressed regrets over the appointment of non-party members by President Tinubu, saying it amounted to rewarding people who had used everything within their reach to fight APC’s growth in Rivers State.

The open letter, signed by the concerned youth party members from across the 23 local government areas of Rivers State, went further to enumerate the sad situations that had befallen members of the party since 2015, particularly during the last general elections.

“It is important to note that what we have as APC in Rivers State today is a combination of individuals who joined your journey from the Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) or even the grand merger of the APC. These individuals exist, and have over the years devoted their time, energy, and resources to ensuring the progressive spirit remains resolute in Rivers State.

“Years have passed and today our efforts have now yielded fruits in your election as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; sadly, rather than relax and enjoy the fruits of our labour in your victory, we are faced with what we consider as total disregard, neglect and victimisation by the same system we have toiled and suffered for over the years.

“We are amazed that under our government, card-carrying members of the PDP, in Rivers State are being appointed and nominated into federal boards, parastatals and agencies at the detriment of our party, the APC in Rivers State. This is a party that has severely suffered the high-handedness of the PDP and its leaders in the State who committed every resource at their disposal against us. These actions over the years have caused us pain, agony and loss. Most recently, we lost our fellow party member Chiosom Lennard, during his attempt to defend the mandate of our great party from the hands of overzealous members of the opposition; properties damaged, and dreams shattered all because we stood for this party,” the youths explained.

They lamented that recent developments in appointing non-party members have left APC members in the state “nonplussed and extremely perturbed.”