By Citizenship Newspaper
A new twist has emerged in respect of the political crisis in Rivers state with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, Chief Tony Okocha giving a hint that as far as there is no move by the suspended Governor Sim Fubara to reconcile with the stakeholders in the state, it means that the embattled governor could still be impeached after the emergency rule is over.
Okocha who spoke at a media conference on Tuesday said instead of making moves to end the crisis, Fubara and his supporters are only interested in boasting of a possible reversal of the state of emergency.
He said that there is still a subsisting Supreme Court ruling on the Rivers state matter which he insisted could be revisited as soon as possible.
“Fubara’s suspension and the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State had no business whatsoever with politics.
“It was about his misdemeanor and I said to you that he said that the president saved his job by declaring the state of emergency. Don’t forget that the Supreme Court in its judgement had said that there was no government in Rivers State.
“So, if there was no government in Rivers State, something must be done and that which happened was the declaration of the state of emergency”.
According to him, President Tinubu saved Fubara with the emergency rule because the Supreme Court had ruled that there was no government in Rivers state. If not for the President’s intervention, Fubara would have been long removed as a governor, he said.
He also said that even if Fubara joined the APC, his sins will not be wiped out because it has nothing to do with political party affiliation.
“Reconciliation has nothing to do with the political party one belongs to. I am here as the Chairman of the APC in Rivers state and I am not aware of any moves by Fubara to join the party and you know that all politics are local.
“If Fubara decides to join the APC, it has nothing to do with state of emergency in Rivers state. His sins cannot be forgiven because he came to our party. It is not true. He has not spoken to me. He will enter the party through the door not the window. Not only him, there are procedures for defection to another party and if he claims to be a politician, he will know that all politics is local, he will try and defect in his ward. From there it will come to us and my ward chairmen I have asked, nobody brought any information about him entering APC.
“You will jump into APC today and your sins are forgiven? That can’t be true. It won’t work that way. Then, it would have made APC a dumping ground for people who commit misdemeanor and believe that by and large we will come for reconciliation. No”.
On the seeming political rift brewing between former Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, the Rivers state APC boss said Amaechi is only hungry for power, hence he is angry with Wike for vowing to support the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Okocha who once served as the Chief of Staff to Amaechi when he was governor said having worked closely with both men, he knew that Wike is a better leader and administrator, who also means well for the people.
