The Leader/Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Sir (Chief) Tony C. Okocha, DSSRS , JP, has said that he doesn’t play politics of bitterness, animosity and enmity.
He made this submission in a press briefing on Monday – 2nd September, 2024, in Port Harcourt, while addressing some recent political developments in Rivers State.
Recall that Mr Tonye Cole, the Governorship Candidate of the APC in the 2023 general election in Rivers State has earlier accused the Leader/Chairman of the Rivers APC of being a part of the political family of Chief (Barr) Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and cannot speak for the APC in Rivers State.
In his reaction to the accusation of Mr Tonye Cole, Sir (Chief) Tony C. Okocha said, “I have the audacity and the temerity to speak on behalf of the APC in Rivers State as the Leader/Chairman of the party. I have every power to speak for the APC in the State especially now that the National Working Committee of the party has further recognised me as the Leader/Chairman of the APC in Rivers State.”
“I won’t sit down here and compare myself with Tonye Cole. It’s going to be a categorical mistake.”
“Tonye Cole is not a factor in the politics of Rivers State. He hasn’t played with us. He has never been with us, and has never been anywhere in the picture of the politics of the State. He was only drafted in by his business partner who was the Governor of Rivers State at the time.”
“I was the one that conveyed the decision to choose Emeka Beke as the Secretary of the APC in Rivers State in 2014.’
“I challenge anybody to tell me where a meeting was held to select who was going to be the Chairman and the Secretary of the party.”
“The meeting was between my boss then, the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, His Excellency, as the Governor, and myself.”
“Both of us decided who was going to be Chairman and Secretary.”
“Tonye Cole was no where to be seen within the political space in Rivers State.”
“So, that I see E.N. Wike, Honourable Minister, and l greet him, that makes me a member of his political family”?
“Am in APC, Wike is in PDP. Didn’t you people see him at their last State Congress? He was adorning the same uniform with his people. He spoke.’
“I wrote, before and after, advising PDP to ensure that their congresses come out seamlessly, and l also told them by reminding them that we’ll meet at the phillipi at the fullness of time.”
“Isn’t that how politics is supposed to be played”?
“I can’t play politics of bitterness. Please! I can’t play politics of animosity.”
“Politics is not about enmity. If you’re not working with me, or you’re in a different political party, you’re my opponent, and not my enemy. Some people say you’re an enemy. I don’t see it that way, and I also don’t think that it should be so. Am more decent. It is not my style. It is not my learning, and not my orientation, and will never be.”
“What is more, His Excellency, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, CON, GSSRS, POS Africa, Life Bencher, serves in a government that the person who sits there is the Leader of my party.”
“He’s serving under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a Minister, and by that very fact he’s a member of the Renewed Hope Family in Rivers State. He is the Leader.”
“I’ve told you before that the Renewed Hope Family in Rivers State is non partisan. The sea of heads you saw the other time are all not of the APC. Some of them are unaligned, and not members of any political party but people who believes in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, in Rivers State.”
“I can’t be sure that anybody will imagine that because Wike is of the PDP, and am of the APC, that we shouldn’t talk, and when we see ourselves, we shouldn’t greet ourselves.”
Amb. Vincent Gbosi,
Special Assistant on Media to the Chairman,
Caretaker Committee (CTC),
All Progressives Congress (APC),
Rivers State.
September 3, 2024.
