• Friday, March 29, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Groups in Rivers bicker over who made Tinubu win the state

Groups in Rivers bicker over who made Tinubu win the state

Pro-Tinubu groups in Rivers State are now at loggerheads over who truly delivered the candidate in Rivers State.

Governor Nyesom Wike has been seen on video footage dancing in one of the western states showing happiness for delivering the presidential candidate of another party other than his.

A stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tony Okocha said Governor Wike made huge financial resources and humans available to deliver Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) instead of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and that his group would work to deliver Wike’s PDP governorship choice, Sim Fubara.

Okocha spoke on behalf of the Grassroots Independent Campaign Council (ICC) and urged all Rivers people to pay back Wike by voting Fubara.

The next day, Friday, March 3, 2023, the state coordinator of ICC, Augustine Wokocha, backed by Ineye Jack (secretary) and Wenenda Onukwuru (media director), countered the Okocha group.

Addressing journalists at another venue, the state coordinator said they did not see a kobo from Governor Wike, saying they were not aware that the state governor pumped over N2billion.

He however, said if Wike did, the money is Rivers’ money and all Rivers’ people would be commended for it, not just Wike.

Read also: Six states ask Supreme Court to void Tinubu’s election victory

Instead, Wokocha said he as a person would vote for Magnus Abe, governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

He said Abe was one of the forces that worked for the emergence of Tinubu.

Wokocha said Okocha spoke for himself and was never mandated by anybody to speak for ICC.

He admitted that Tinubu must be congratulated, but said BAT won naturally, not because of any undue push by anybody and that credit for the victory must go tall Rivers people.

Tinubu won with 231,591 (56,520 more than LP) which got 175, 071 while PDP got 88,468 votes, trailing behind APC by 86,603. The figures are being disputed by LP.

The ICC state coordinator said what should worry the Tinubu group is that almost 90 percent of Nigerians did not vote for him. “He must work to convince them but he is going to be their president.”

He said many forces worked against Tinubu but that Abe was steadfast. He too said Abe should be voted for.

The mainstream APC in the state has since claimed to have worked for the victory of Tinubu and sent a hearty congratulation. They too claim to have worked for the victory.

Okocha however, said the Tonye Cole-led APC did not for once mention Tinubu at their rallies. He said evidence before them shows that top APC leaders in Rivers State may not have even voted for Tinubu.

The Tinubu victory has continued to divide rather than unite political groups in the state, just as Tinubu was accused of also dividing the APC family in the state over the years.

This allegedly led to factions in the state that seemed to draw strength and funds directly from him which seemed to embolden them to stand up to the leader of the APC in the state, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who Okocha preferred to call former leader.

Instead, Wike is being touted as the leader of both the PDP and APC in the state.