APC Chief Ganduje to cooperate with Jonathan as party persuades Wike to join
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, met with former President Goodluck Jonathan at his residence in Abuja.
The meeting, which took place behind closed doors, may not be unrelated to Ganduje’s ongoing efforts to rally support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government.
This comes after Ganduje inaugurated a seven-member caretaker committee of the party’s Rivers State chapter, led by its leader, Tony Okocha.
Ganduje condemned the crisis that has rocked the Rivers State chapter and ordered members of the management committee to restore order, recruit new members and reposition the party.
He said: “We look forward to you providing an enabling environment so that we can convene Congress for the emergence of leadership at the district level, municipal level, state level and even the Senate level.
“We expect you to put more energy into this party. There should be no discrimination. You are brothers who strive for unity, so you do not care about factions and We consider it a sibling of APC.”
“We hope that you will create history by building a strong foundation for our party and form an APC government in Rivers State in the next governorship election.We are grateful, but we hope that the next governorship election Rivers State will now form the only APC government.” The southern state successfully elected President Awaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“So today’s government, you are part of it. You contributed and you elected him into government. Today you can proudly deny that you did your best. It was your contribution that helped our president win the election and we are proud of you.
“Also, according to our research, there are many newcomers from other parties who wish to join the party, so there is no time to change the party structure, and now is not the time to change the party leadership structure. You’ll understand.”
He thereby ordered the caretaker committee to convene a meeting within six months to elect the leadership of the Rivers State chapter of the party.
Responding to questions from reporters afterwards, Okocha asserted that under the new system, the “one-man show tendency” to run the party would be eradicated from within the party.
Interim committee spokesperson Tsibike Ikenga confirmed that former transport minister and Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi remains one of the party’s leaders.
However, he said he would not hesitate to ask the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, to join the party as part of the recruitment process for new members in the state.
“Chief Nyesom Wike is a prominent son of Rivers State but he is not a member of APC. He is a member of PDP. But if tomorrow he wants to join APC, we will not stop anyone. No. As long as he wishes to join the others, we welcome them.”
Source: guardian.ng