Augustine Wokocha, a former commissioner for power and coordinator for the now-defunct Tinubu/Shettima Grassroot Independent Campaign Council in Rivers State, has refuted reports that the former governor Nyesom Wike cooperated with President Bola Tinubu ahead of the February 25 presidential election.
Wokocha stated that the All Progressives Congress welcomed Wike to the party but that Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transportation, still held the position of party leader in the state.
Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, and four of his fellow PDP governors opposed Atiku Abubakar’s bid for the presidency and demanded that Iyorchia Ayu, the party’s national chairman at the time, resign. Ayu rejected this request.
Even though Wike did not openly campaign for Tinubu, who was then the presidential candidate of the APC, reports said he asked his supporters to work for the party.
At the moment, there are insinuations that the former may be given an appointment by the President, having visited him at the villa multiple times after inauguration.
A former Chief of Staff at the state Government House, Chief Tony Okocha, at a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Thursday called on Wike to defect to the APC and lead the party in the state.
But responding, Wokocha at a briefing in Port Harcourt on Friday said Okocha’s claims that the former governor solely delivered the state to Tinubu in the last election and deserved to be rewarded was untrue.
He stated, “The victory of Bola Tinubu in the last election in Rivers State cannot be given to one individual. It is a combination of the over 200,000 votes from Rivers State, who voted for the man who is our President today.
“I ran the campaign for the Tinubu election. I can’t remember anywhere, anytime when the immediate past governor of Rivers State canvassed any support for the President.
“I can’t remember any forum when he referred to the candidate of our party. He did not direct his people to vote for him, to my knowledge. So I don’t know what Okocha meant by Wike immensely contributed to Tinubu’s Victory. So, it is important we continue to appreciate Rivers people. Of course, people worked and those who did the canvassing to convince people that Tinubu was a better candidate also deserve our appreciation and gratitude.”
Wokocha said though he was not opposed to Wike joining the APC if he desires to, the party had a leader and was not in search of one.
He stated, “Candidly, politics is the more the merrier. So, Wike coming to the APC is a welcome development. What is an aberration is to say Wike should come and take over the party. This is the same party that its members were hounded like grasshoppers by the man who is being invited to join the party today.
“It was the same Wike who said APC is cancer stage four and the PDP is malaria. But he is welcome if he has suddenly realised that our cancer is better than the malaria he is suffering from.”
He said it would be a major disservice to the people of the state to say Wike should come and lead the APC in Rivers State.
He stressed that Amaechi remained the leader of the party in the state and that this was not in dispute.
He said Tinubu had started well and that anyone who gets an appointment would be celebrated. “But nobody should take credit that is not their own and take claims that are not theirs. We won’t allow our people to be misled,” he added.