APC Rivers State chairman petitions Abdullahi Ganduje, party’s national chairman, to overturn National Working Committee’s decision to disband executive branch

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, has been urged to overturn the National Working Committee’s decision to dissolve the party’s executive branch in Rivers State by the party’s beleaguered chairman, Emeka Beke.

Speaking on Thursday in Port Harcourt, Beke asserted that the party’s executive branch in the state was still in office.

Recall that the Rivers excos were dissolved by the Ganduje-led APC NWC on Wednesday in Abuja, and a caretaker committee was appointed to oversee the party’s operations in the state for a period of six months.

The caretaker committee’s chairman, Chief Tony Okocha, is well-known to be an associate of former PDP governor Nyesom Wike, who is currently forming a national coalition with the APC.

Tonye Cole, the APC’s candidate for governor in the general elections of 2023, and other members of the party were disregarded by President Bola Tinubu when he appointed Wike of the PDP to the position of minister for rivers.

Cole is an ally of Wike’s longtime political opponent in Rivers State, former governor Rotimi Amaechi.

Felix Mouka, the party’s national publicity secretary, announced the dissolution of the Rivers APC excos on Wednesday in Abuja. “We have resolved at the NWC meeting that Rivers APC should be dissolved and a caretaker committee put in place,” Mouka stated. Chief Tony Okocha will lead the committee, and Eric Nwibani will serve as secretary.

“On Friday, the committee members’ inauguration will take place here at the party secretariat.”

However, the dismissed chairman of the Rivers APC, Emeka, responded to the party’s national leadership decision on Thursday by stating that, according to the party constitution, only the NEC has the authority to dissolve an elected state exco.

He said, “What is stated in the party’s constitution? The moral right belongs only to NEC. The NWC’s claim that it has such authority surprises me. I do not believe that the NEC ever granted them (NWC) the authority to do it. It is really unexpected and startling.

Comparing him to a man who lives in a glass home, he advised Ganduje to proceed cautiously.

“Ganduje is aware of how this party’s national chairmanship came to be. It is not good for you to throw stones at a man who lives in a glass house. He must turn around.

Regarding the assertions that the APC’s move enabled Wike to seize control of the state’s party system, Beke clarified that the Federal Capital Territory’s current Minister is not an APC member.

As he is not a part of our party, he says, “Well, I don’t know.” In Rivers State, Wike is not an APC member. He does not belong to the national APC.

“Nevertheless, they ought to be able to handle the consequences if the national has chosen to go that route.”

In a statement, Darlington Nwauju, the APC’s state publicity secretary, argued that the NWC lacked the authority to dissolve an elected executive and called the move extra-constitutional.

Nwauju stated in the statement provided to our correspondent: “The alleged dissolution of the APC’s state executives in Rivers State is extra-constitutional and contradicts good crisis management and peacebuilding practices.

“Without the NEC’s agreement, the NWC cannot take such drastic actions as dissolving the party’s validly elected executives or waiving requirements for any individual to hold positions for which they are constitutionally ineligible.

For all progressive-minded people in Rivers State, putting our party in the hands of political undertakers is simply too risky.