By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Chairman of Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, Tony Okocha, has said the Minsiter of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike is the leader of the party in Rivers state.
Okocha noted that Wike wields a political clout that is incontestable in Rivers, adding that he is however, the leader of the Renewed Hope Agenda which is exclusively an APC project.
He said Wike remains a bona fide member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as all efforts to co-opt him into the APC have been futile.
Okocha disclosed this while speaking with reporters on Thursday night in Abuja.
He explained further that 27 pro-Wike lawmakers too have turned down his overtures to bring them to APC
The APC chieftain said it would be a thing of joy for him to get Wike and his loyalists to join his party adding that the true is he has been unsuccessful in his bid to do so.
“People say Wike has decamped to the APC. They also say that the 27 lawmakers currently fighting with Fubara have defected to the APC,” NAN quoted him as saying.
“I need to make this clear to everyone. Much as I wish to have them in my fold, none of them has agreed to join us.
“I am the one that should know if they did. But, clearly, they have not. What the lawmakers did was a political gimmick.
“I tried to woo them, but they kept vacillating and did not.
“To defect, they must go to their wards, register and get their membership cards. None of them has done that.”
Okocha continued, “Wike will never leave the PDP. He has always said that PDP made him what he is. He has always said that he would remain there.
“He (Wike) is an ardent believer in PDP. He is not likely to leave that group. In Rivers, I am 001 in APC, but in the Renewed Hope Agenda, I am 002. Wike is 001.”
Okocha said Wike is a politician who identifies with every good cause irrespective of political party.
The rift between Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), and Siminalayi Fubara, have polarised the Rivers house of assembly.
While the Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers parliament is loyal to Wike, another one led by Victor Oko-Jombo is loyal to Fubara.
Okocha was formerly a PDP member and a loyalist of former governor Rotimi Amaechi
It’s believed that he was one of the people who convinced President Tinubu to woo Wike to work for his ambition when things fell apart in the PDP after the former governor failed to secure presidential ticket.
