The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has stated that it will not serve as a refuge for political wrongdoers, declaring that the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara would not find absolution within its ranks, even if he chooses to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC.
The party’s stance was made clear by its Caretaker Committee Chairman in the state, Sir Tony Okocha, during a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.
He was responding to questions about the political significance of Fubara’s recent Sallah visit to Bola Tinubu.
Okocha emphasized that the governor’s suspension and the call for a state of emergency were based solely on his misconduct and not driven by political motives.
He said; “If Fubara decides to join the APC, it has nothing to do with the state of emergency in Rivers state. His sins cannot be forgiven because he came to our party.
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“You will jump into APC today and your sins are forgiven? That cannot be true. It won’t work that way. Then, it would have made APC as a dumping ground for people who commit misdemeanor and believe that by and large we will come for reconciliation. No. 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 would know that all politics is local, he would 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”.
When asked if he was concerned about Fubara’s meeting with the president, Okocha responded that the APC had no reason for concern.
“How can I be worried that somebody visited my president? Don’t forget it was also the season of Sallah. Yesterday, I read somewhere that the former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Osoba paid Sallah homage and I don’t know whether you also saw the President in the company of Chief EN Wike. So we cannot be worried, we cannot gag the President to say you will see Mr A, you will not see Mr B. Perhaps, if I had made an application to see Mr President, I would have been there with my team”, he said.
Okocha also dismissed reports suggesting that Governor Fubara was making any reconciliatory moves, stating that no such efforts were taking place.
He said; “I am not a prophet of doom. I can only say to you with the benefit of knowledge that I am not aware of any reconciliatory move. No reconciliation is going on, is it going to talk to Mr President? But Mr President has said go and make peace. No attempt at that. I am not aware of any reconciliatory moves by Fubara and his team”.
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