Chieftains and stakeholders in the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress have said that deep-seated animosity existed in the party at the state level.
The stakeholders maintained that contrary to the position of the lawmaker representing Rivers East Senatorial District, Senator Andrew Uchendu, that there was crisis in the state APC, the disagreement in the party was real.
Uchendu had said last week that there was no crisis in the state APC, and added that what the party was experiencing was only plurality of interests.
But speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, one the stakeholders and a chieftain of the party, Mr. Worgu Boms dismissed Uchendu’s claim, saying that the sacking of caucus leaders of the APC in Rivers by the leader of party, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, was a sign that APC was in crisis.
Boms, who is a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, pointed out that a situation where members perceived to be supporting the governorship ambition of the lawmaker representing Rivers South East, Senator Magnus Abe, had already been tagged betrayers by the ministers was another sign that the party was in crisis.
He explained that it was wrong for Uchendu to claim that there was no crisis in Rivers APC because there is no challenge to the position of the state party chairman.
Boms said, “In Rivers APC today, if you are supporting Magnus Abe, they (Amaechi and his group) will not invite you to any party event. If Magnus Abe is holding an event, you will not see any of them there. Is that not crisis?
“You don’t begin to call some persons betrayers because they don’t support you. I, as a member of APC, will not subscribe to a situation where one man will handpick a candidate. There is animosity in the party and Senator Magnus Abe has called for peace.”
In his remark, another stakeholder, Mr. Golden Chioma, who is a former member of the State House of Assembly, added that party executives had currently been rendered redundant by the actions and inactions of some powerful members of the party.
Explaining that the party at the state level was not being financed, Chioma noted that salaries were being owed workers while nobody was talking about the welfare of Rivers APC officials.
He said, “The party leadership in the state has been sidelined. Party executive functions are being arrogated to non-party officials. All this are crisis and we are putting those problems on seat of the minister.
