Defecting To APC Won’t Stop Your Impeachment, Rivers APC Chairman Tells Fubara
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tony Okocha, has warned that unless the suspended state governor, Sim Fubara, seeks genuine reconciliation, not even his defection to the APC would save him from impeachment.
Okocha, who spoke at a media briefing at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja, yesterday, warned again that not even the reversal of the emergency rule would foreclose his impeachment, wondering why he has been lobbying for his reinstatement.
He also took a swipe at the former governor of the state and ex-Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, describing him as a ‘partiless politician’ since he is no longer a member of the APC.
Asked if Fubara’s defection to the APC could make his sins to be forgiven, Okocha thundered: “Fubara’s suspension and the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State had no business whatsoever with politics. It was about his misdemeanour and he said the President saved his job by declaring a state of emergency.
“Don’t forget that the Supreme Court in its judgement had said that there was no government in Rivers State. So, if there was no government in the state, something must be done and that was the declaration of the state of emergency.
“If Fubara decides to join the APC, it has nothing to do with the state of emergency in Rivers State. His sins can not be forgiven because he came to our party. It is not true. He has not spoken to me. He will enter the party through the door, not the window. Not only him, there are procedures for defection to another party and if he claims to be a politician, he will know that all politics is local, he will try and defect in his ward.
“From there, it will come to us and I have asked my ward chairmen, and nobody brought any information about him entering APC. You cannot jump into APC today and your sins are forgiven, that can’t be true. It won’t work that way otherwise it would have made APC a dumping ground for people who commit misdemeanour and believe that by and large they will come for reconciliation,” he said.
On whether he is worried about Fubara’s constant meetings with President Tinubu, he said: “How can I be worried that somebody visited my President? Don’t forget it was also the season for Sallah. Former Governor Osoba paid Sallah homage and I am sure you saw the President in the company of Chief Wike.
“So, we can’t be worried, we can’t gag the President to say he should not see Mr A or Mr B. Perhaps, if I had made an application to see Mr President, I would have been there with my team.
“I am not a prophet of doom, I can only say to you with the benefit of knowledge that I am not aware of any reconciliatory move. No reconciliation is going on, is it going to talk to Mr President? But Mr President has said go and make peace. No attempt at that. I am not aware of any reconciliatory moves by Fubara and his team,” he said.
