Last Sunday’s defection of Rivers State deputy governor, Engineer Tele Ikuru, from the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, may have set the stage for political realignments in the state, even as no fewer than 18 members of the 24-man state executive council are set to dump Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his party.
At the formal reception of Ikuru to the state PDP fold yesterday in Port Harcourt, state chairman, Chief Felix Obuah disclosed to party members that only five commissioners in Amaechi’s cabinet were still in the APC, as the rest have concluded plans to return to the PDP. He also stated that about 75 percent of the members of the state House of Assembly were ready to dump the APC.
However, a reliable source in the camp of the PDP governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, would not place a figure to the expectation. He told Nigerian Pilot that five Amaechi commissioners attended a recent strategic meeting preparatory to their formal defection “just few days ahead.”
The development is causing serious panic both in the state and within the leadership of the APC at the national level.
Why I Joined APC –Ikuru
At the event, Ikuru said that he was deceived by the state governor to dump the PDP in December 2013, to join the APC.
The deputy governor, who defected with some of his supporters, including former deputy mayor of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Hon. Victor Ere, secretary of APC in Andoni Local Government Area, Hon. Kingston Silvanus, amongst others, said he joined the APC because he was made to believe that that was the new order.
He said: “I was deceived, I must confess. I was told that it was a new order. I did not know that it was all about the ambition of an individual. I say big thank you to you all (PDP members) because, when I was deceived out of PDP, if all of you had not stood your ground to keep the party alive, where would I have returned to? In our darkness, we thought that we were in the right place.
“What is happening in Rivers State today will hunt all of us if we allow it to go unchallenged. It is necessary, for the sake of your fathers, for the sake of your mothers, for the sake of your brothers and sisters and for the sake of your children, every Rivers man must stand up to fight this evil among us. If it demands your blood, so be it.”
Ituru added that his supporters across the 23 local government areas of the state had agreed to dump the ruling APC en mass, saying that genuine peace would return to the state after the March 28, 2015 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the APC in Rivers State has described Ikuru’s defection as good omen for the party.
In a statement issued by the state party chairman, Mr Davies Ikanya, the APC stated that Ikuru only remained in the party with the hope of clinching the party’s guber ticket after the impeachment moves against the governor failed.
“Engr Ikuru was asked to stay behind to monitor the activities of APC and most importantly, to act as a mole for his uncle and plot the fall of APC in the state.
“We are, therefore, expectedly relieved by his exit and wish to call on our teeming supporters not to shed any tear as it will have no effect whatsoever on the fortunes of APC and its candidates in the forthcoming general elections in the state,” the statement read in part.