The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Emeka Beke, has lampooned the 27 embattled lawmakers of the State House of Assembly for denying that they never defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
Beke, an ally of the former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, said the 27 lawmakers cannot deny membership of the APC after defecting openly and gave reasons for their action.
He spoke at a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Saturday while reacting to recent claims by Martin Amaewhule that he and his colleagues are still members of the PDP.
Recall that a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, last Friday dismissed a defection suit instituted against the Amaewhule-led lawmakers by the Action Peoples Party, saying the suit was not filed within the 14-day period allowed by law.
But Beke who recently regained his position as the state APC Chairman by Justice Sika Aprioku of the Rivers State High Court that the party’s National Working Committee was wrong to have dissolved the Beke-led state executive and replaced it with the Tony Okocha-led Caretaker Committee describe the denial by the 27 lawmakers as shameful.
He stated, “I want to put it on record that those 27 members of the House of Assembly are still members of the APC. The law is clear on defection. They cannot run away from the truth because we all know and saw it when they defected to our party.
“They are members of our party and we have accepted them fully as key stakeholders of the APC. It is very obvious, evident and on record that in several fora, Martin Amawgule and 26 others publicly defected from the PDP to the APC.
“And they were hosted in a reception ceremony by Tony Okocha who then claims to be the CTC Chairman of Rivers State APC. The reception was at the Port Harcourt Polo Club and it was open. Therefore they cannot sheepishly make a U-turn in the midnight and yet be celebrated by the same Tony Okocha who they are now denying. What a shame.”
Beke, however, said appropriate disciplinary actions would be taken against the pro-Wike lawmakers after the October 5, 2024 local government election, which he said the party will fully participate in.
“In our last meeting, we sent out invitations for them (pro-Wike lawmakers) to attend, but they did not. Right now we are talking about local elections and after the local government elections we will take necessary actions concerning them,” he said.
He said nothing will stop the APC from participating in the council elections, pointing out already all its candidates have been screened and cleared by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.
Beke declared, “As the duly elected Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, I want to put it on record that first, the APC will take part in the forth-coming local government elections on 5th October. We are fielding candidates for the various positions in all the 23 LGA’s. Our candidates have been screened and cleared by the RSIEC.”
He said the ruling by Justice Aprioku, which sacked Tony Okocha-led seven-man CTC and recognized him as the party’s elected chairman in the state had yet to be overturned by any Court, hence ‘Nothing will stop the APC from participating fully in the local government elections.”
Beke said he has instructed his lawyers to secure an arrest warrant against Tony Okocha, if his actions continue to portray him as having taken decisions on behalf of the main opposition party in the state.
“Anybody who claims that he is doing anything I have instructed our lawyers to secure a warrant of arrest because as a party we believe in the rule of law.”
He commended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for giving a free hand to all political parties in the state to test their popularity in the October 5 elections, saying, “I can tell you clearly that in the history of politics in Rivers State this is the first time we are seeing a Governor who is ready to give a level playing ground for all parties in an election and for Rivers people to elect who they want as chairmen and councilors.”
