The ousted All Progressives Congress Caretaker Committee Chairman in Rivers, Tony Okocha, has accused former minister of transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, of plotting to hijack the party in the state to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Okocha made the allegations while addressing journalists at the APC national secretariat, reacting to the court judgment that sacked his committee on Friday.
He claimed that Amaechi’s plan is to subordinate the party to the state government, rendering it inefficient and undermining the electoral success achieved in 2023, according to Politics Nigeria
A High Court in Port Harcourt had reinstated Chief Emeka Beke as Chairman, but the APC National Working Committee has recognized the Okocha-led Caretaker Committee as the authentic administrative organ in the state.
Okocha alleged that Beke was imposed on the party by Amaechi and accused him of being a surrogate and stooge. He also claimed that Amaechi worked against President Tinubu during the presidential primaries and is now planning to use the party to fight him in 2027.
His words: “Beke was imposed on the APC in Rivers state. I was a member, an ally of Senator Magnus Abe when he was fighting right inside the APC. The reason why we fought was ineptitude, political high-handedness, and imposition. Beke was a product of these three issues but was imposed by the then APC leader, Rotimi Amaechi.
“The truth of the matter is that the party has a lot of intellectuals, professionals, and lecturers. We imagine how a person of low academic qualifications can preside over a meeting that some of us would attend but the APC leader then said they wanted somebody who had a street boy mentality.
“But the truth was that he wanted a surrogate, a stooge who would do his bidding. We fought but the APC leader was then a minister and his vestiges were here as leaders of the party.
“At the presidential primaries of the APC, Beke was the person who led the Rivers delegation of 56 delegates to vote for Rotimi Amaechi. That was how they scored 56 from the state.
“There is an intention to throw up Amaechi’s man and then he (Amaechi) becomes the APC leader and then uses the APC to fight Mr President in 2027. We will never allow that.
“Beke has shot himself in the leg by also referring to Amaechi as leader of the party in Rivers and the South-South. A man who refused to cooperate with President Tinubu then as presidential candidate, a man who worked for the opposition.
“Amaechi and his group aligned with PDP’s Atiku while Wike and his group from the PDP worked with us. After we won the election, Amaechi addressed the Press that Tinubu nominated the INEC Chairman and that the INEC Chairman worked with the current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike when he was at TETFUND and Wike was the Education minister. That person cannot be the leader of the APC.”