Who will save Rivers APC?

In this piece, AMAECHI OKONKWO examines the intrigues of consensus candidacy and the landmines the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State might be stepping on if it fails to manage the discontent in the party in the state, where it failed to present candidates for the 2019 general election due to protracted infighting.   

Will history repeat itself in Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC)? Will thunder strike on the same spot twice? These are questions for the party to answer as it prepares to select a candidate for the 2023 governorship race in the oil-rich state. Like it did in the build-up to the 2019 governorship election, when it ended up not having a candidate, the Rivers State APC has started another macabre dance towards choosing a candidate for the 2023 governorship election.

When on Monday April 11, 2022, 10 APC governorship aspirants in Rivers announced the signing of a unity accord to support any one of them that would emerge either by consensus or election at the primaries, the announcement was greeted with mixed feelings.  Those who bought the decision were happy that finally the Rivers APC was beginning to adopt steps to resolve the issues that had dogged the party and made it impossible for it to make any political progress since 2018. Others expressed doubt on the sustainability of the accord since there were more than 10 aspirants in the APC eyeing the governorship slot and some of them, especially Senator Magnus Abe, were not part of the agreement.

The 10 plus two that later joined, all from the riverine area of the state, which has been pressing to produce the next governor of the state, having not produced a governor since 1999, with Abe, alone an Ogoni, being the only candidate not from the Ijaw-riverine part of the state. And true to their fears, Abe immediately informed of his interest in the governorship and made it known that he could only support an APC candidate who emerged through a transparent, generally acceptable process, and for him that process did not include consensus.

This news was still trending, when on Friday, April 22, the public was greeted with another announcement by Prince Tonye Princewill that the Rivers APC stakeholders and leaders had after a meeting with the aspirants chosen, by consensus to make Architect Tonye Cole the governorship candidate of the party for the 2023 elections.

According to Princewill, himself one of the aspirants and an insider at the meeting, “The decision has just been made for Tonye Cole to fly the flag. It was not made by the Minister (Rotimi Amaechi). It was made by the leaders of the party. The 10 aspirants plus two new names that had also indicated interest were asked to excuse themselves while all of the leaders minus the minister then sat and deliberated. We were just called back along with the minister to be given their decision.”

Expectedly, the decision drew quick reactions among the aspirants and even the party itself, as well as other persons outside the forum. Princewill was first to react to the decision he announced, expressing his disappointment with the decision even though resigning to it and pledging his support for the preferred candidate, Cole. In an emotion-laden statement, Princewill reacted to the consensus decision saying, “I was looking forward to leading the APC into battle with PDP in 2023, so, to say I am happy today, would not be an accurate reflection of how I feel. The decision is still fresh and feelings are still raw. Many are still in shock. Some are still sad. However I subscribed to a team and I signed up to a political process, so that makes it my responsibility to live up to the rules of the game. That makes it my responsibility to support Tonye Cole. And so I will.”

Confirming that the decision was reached by the Rivers APC leadership, George Tolofari, Coordinator of the Progressives Aspirants Forum, said the decision had been reached for Cole to fly the flag. He condemned as erroneous, some, who accused and cast aspersions and insults on Amaechi for imposing Tonye Cole on the party saying that unknown to them, “Our leader, the Honourable Minister of Transportation, rescued himself from the process and asked us to freely exercise our rights in the best interest of the party which we did.”

He cautioned against the unwarranted attacks on Amaechi who he said had done nothing wrong, rather he set the stage for free deliberations and consultations. “If he had wanted to impose a candidate on us, he would not need to set up a committee. He would have just announced his preferred candidate and asked us to support him, but this he didn’t do. It may even surprise some of you that our leader’s preference may not have emerged but he allowed the majority decision of the party elders to fly. I was part of that process and all decisions taken by the larger majority of the committee members are binding on me. I will say that again for emphasis. Although the expectations of all party faithful may not have been met as some of us had wished our “principal” emerged. I do not believe in that system where when it favours me, I applaud leadership and its process and castigate leadership and its process when it does not favour me. As painful as it is, we must exercise restraint. We must not destroy APC because we didn’t get the endorsement of the leadership this time around,” Tolofari said.

He advised APC members to desist from taking internal affairs to the social media as doing so would send the wrong signals and give the opponents enough tools to attack the party during the campaign period. “We are in the contest to win and Tonye Cole is not yet the party’s candidate until after or when he emerges at the primary in a free and fair contest with other aspirants either from the riverine or upland area. He was only adopted as the riverine consensus aspirant. The party has also made it clear that any aspirant that is not satisfied with the decision of its committee can still go ahead, pick up the form and contest against Tonye Cole at the primaries,” he further clarified.

Tolofari’s clarifications were in tandem with an earlier statement by the APC that though 19 leadership of the party chose Tonye Cole a consensus aspirant of riverine extraction to contest the governorship primaries for the 2023 elections, other candidates who wished could still challenge him at the primaries. The statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the party, Chris Finebone, emphasised that “no standard bearer to fly the party’s governorship flag in Rivers State has emerged as yet as such can only happen in accordance with party rules, regulations and the 2022 Electoral Act.”

The APC stated that it was still committed to its earlier position to support the emergence of a governor of riverine extraction after 24 years of upland governorship, imploring all party faithful to continue to go about their activities with decorum and peacefully as the next four weeks were bound to be busy and packed full with political activities. Some other candidates like Dr. Sokonte Davis, Biokpomabo Awara and Micheal Ibinabo West have all expressed their support and commitment to the decision of the party calling on their supporters and other party faithful to also back the decision.

However,  some have insisted on contesting the primary with Cole. One of them is Senator Magnus Abe, who is not a member of the Progressive Aspirants Forum and Tekena Iyagba, who though is from the riverine area, reportedly endorsed the unity accord. Besides, he was neither at the accord signing meeting nor in the parley where Cole was chosen as the consensus candidate. Abe, after the decision of the APC leadership, categorically rejected it, insisting on his bid for the ticket of the APC.  At an event in Okrika, he warned the party to avoid the mistakes of 2018, following a disagreement over the conduct of party congresses and selection of candidates for the party for the 2019 elections plunged the APC into crisis including prolonged litigation that eventually robbed it the opportunity of presenting candidates for elections.

Abe said: “For APC to succeed in this state we must have a clear, transparent, and honest process by which everybody who is entitled to have a say will genuinely have a say. If you have cooked up a process and you think that process will crown a king you will end up with a king that will never be crowned. We must be very careful not to allow people to use their political schemes to divide us and keep us down because of what they want. We will provide a government that will work for you if you give us your support. As far as it is possible, we must be able to work together to bring our party together. Let us not deceive ourselves, this party needs everybody to be able to succeed. I have come out to say very clearly that I will stand for the office of governor of Rivers State. And I will present myself to Rivers people. If Rivers people say that they do not want me and they want another partner, I will respect their decision. If you choose the wrong partner, you will continue to suffer. But I am a democrat. If there is a process by which our people make a decision and it is not me, I will respect their decision. But if people go and gather and do kangaroo meetings and say it is this person or that person, I will not agree.”

Also reacting Tekena Iyagba denied subscribing to the decision to have Cole as the consensus aspirant for the party. A statement from his campaign organisation states: “The Tekena Iyagba’s Governorship Campaign Organisation wishes to state categorically that our candidate is still in the governorship race under the All Progressives Congress (APC) and did not at any point agree both in writing nor verbally to a consensus as being circulated in a press release signed by George Tolofari who claims to be the coordinator of the Progressives Aspirants Forum. To this end, our governorship aspirant is still proceeding to canvas for votes at the upcoming APC governorship primary. We wish to state that his ambition is borne out of the conviction that it’s time to distinguish politics from governance and make Rivers an urbanised and industrialised haven for residents and prospective investors. We appreciate the support so far and those who have reached out to us to be a part of his campaign train, urging them not to be dissuaded by these speculations. We wish to add that our candidate, Honourable Tekena Iyagba, consulted with the people of Wakrike as a bona fide Ijaw son from Okrika L.G.A of the state and maternally from Ogu-bolo L.G.A before joining the race and cannot make such a decision as he is a serious minded person who is known to keep to his promises and is straight forward in all dealings.”

It is apparent that though the attempt to make Cole the standard-bearer of APC as it prepares for the Brick House has some measure of support, it also has an opposition camp that if not carefully and satisfactorily managed, might again scuttle the ambition of the party as it did in 2019.  The APC faces what many dub the Senator Magnus Abe factor in its fold to overcome the albatross of protracted crisis.