APC Defends Election Strategy in Rivers, Courts Wike to Join Party

|By Chinwendu Nwani

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has justified its decision not to field candidates in Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City, and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas during the just-concluded council elections, describing the move as a deliberate strategy that “paid off.”

Speaking at a press conference in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, APC caretaker committee chairman, Tony Okocha, said the party lacked the capacity to challenge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the three councils. He explained that presenting candidates in those strongholds would have been a futile exercise.

“You don’t put your team where the answer will be failure,” Okocha declared. “We were contesting elections to win, not to test the waters. Fielding candidates in those LGAs would have amounted to missing the point. It was our calculated strategy, and it worked.”

He acknowledged that some APC flagbearers in the election were former PDP members, defending the defections as a political gain. According to him, the PDP in Rivers is in “tatters,” making it easy for APC to “harvest” its members discreetly.

On the party’s broader ambitions, Okocha said the APC was not only targeting members of the Rivers House of Assembly but also lobbying Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to join its ranks.

“The time is ripe,” he stressed. “We’ll continue to beckon on Wike to come over to the APC and have peace. Our ultimate goal is to take full control of Rivers State.”