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Claims by the faction led by Chief Tony Okocha that former Transport Minister and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi is secretly collaborating with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the general elections of 2027 have been rejected by the All Progressives Congress, or APC, Rivers State chapter, which is led by Chief Emeka Beke.

In an interview with ZINGTIE, Chibuike Ikenga, the APC’s factional publicity secretary in Rivers State, claimed that Amaechi was working with Atiku and Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara to use the legal system to undermine the APC in the state.

In a statement released on Monday, Darlington Nwauju, the APC’s publicity secretary under Beke’s direction, denied the accusations.

Ikenga’s assertions, he said, were malicious and were “tales by moonlight.”

Nwauju charged that Ikenga was trying to damage Amaechi’s standing and cause friction between President Tinubu and Fubara.

He called the accusations “baseless” and advised the public to ignore them.

Nwauju said, “We have noticed that political jobbers like Chibuike Ikenga and his ilks have successfully utilized the tool of blackmail to gain unmerited Government appointments and patronages in times past and are desperate to unduly take hold of the structure of our party in Rivers State to continue to leech in the name of playing politics. We are henceforth determined to match their art and science of blackmail with TRUTH.

“Part of the latest tales by moonlight concocted in order to remain in the payroll of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike is to link former Governor Rotimi Amaechi to nocturnal plots targeted at removing our President and party from power.

“This is exactly the tales concocted when Chibuike Ikenga and his friends openly welcomed 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly at the Polo Club in Port Harcourt, boasted before Mr President that they have harvested new members into the APC fold only to eat their own words by denying the defection of these Assembly members who are now deemed to have lost their seats going by the December 20 2024 judgement delivered by a Rivers state a High Court.”

He added, “There is no gainsaying the fact that Mr Chibuike Ikenga’s claims are fabricated as he has no shred of evidence to substantiate his claims that former Governor Amaechi and Chief Emeka Beke have been having nocturnal meetings with Gov Siminalayi Fubara or Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to unseat our President and Commander-in-Chief.

“This latest tales by moonlight is malicious and only intended at damaging the reputation of the former Governor while attempting to put a wedge in the relationship between Governor Fubara and Mr President.

“No matter how fast such lies travel, the truth must catch up with it.”

Nwauju addressed the ongoing leadership crisis in the party in the state.

He declared that Ikenga was an impostor and that he lacked the right to speak for the APC in the state.

He underlined that Okocha’s faction is not legitimate.

He referenced a ruling by Rivers State High Court Justice Sika Aprioku that declared the Okocha-led Caretaker Committee to be invalid.

Nwauju went on to point out another decision made by the state High Court that declared the Okocha faction’s November 2024 state, local, and ward-level congresses to be void.

“Recall that on August 12 2024, a competent Court sitting in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice Sika Aprioku (in Suit No. PHC/3592/CS/2023 and Suit No PHC/3735/CS/2023) had sacked his illegal caretaker committee and further ordered him and his friends to stop parading themselves as officers of our party in Rivers State.

“Secondly, Justice Godswill Obomanu had on December 20 2024, voided the purported congresses Ikenga and his friends conducted against an order of Court which halted that jaundiced process.

“From the foregoing therefore, this individual lacks the locus to speak for or on behalf of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.”

Nwauju responded to Ikenga’s derogatory remarks about the judiciary by saying that the party would neither dispute or argue with him about them.

“We would not join issues with him on the disparaging remarks he willfully made against the Courts, obviously, this is out of his irredeemable ignorance of the powers vested in the courts under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended 1999).

“We are quick to point out that we respect the rights of individuals to challenge any decision of court which is not in his favour in superior courts rather than advertise his colossal intellectual emptiness on the pages of newspapers.

“We expect that respect for and promotion of the rule of law should be the watchword of a so called member of a ruling political party as against dishing out inchoate, semi-literate and unsubstantiated fables that can only encourage the breakdown of law and order.

“The double-faced role played by this character within the APC in Ikwerre LGA where he led our party to very lacklustre and underwhelming outings, forced party faithfuls to angrily throw him off the podium at Isiokpo on January 18 2023 at kickoff of the APC campaign rallies in that LGA.

“It is an open secret that Chibuike Ikenga was campaigning against our House of Assembly and House of Representatives candidates while claiming to be interested in working for our Guber candidate.

“Alas, the sole purpose for sticking around our Guber candidate was to sell party campaign strategies to the opposition!

“Infact, it was the several complaints and complete disenchantment with his leadership style in that LGA that forced him to abandon his position as Leader of APC in Ikwerre LGA, to openly embrace the current FCT Minister as his leader and boss.

“We do not want to be labour ourselves with divulging tales of academic sponsorship which members of his immediate family got from the current FCT Minister, a PDP member, while he (Ikenga) was still masquerading as Leader of the opposition APC in Ikwerre LGA”, he added.

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