The ongoing leadership crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State chapter, has taken a different dimension as some angry members of the party are now demanding for the resignation of their leader, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
The Gist gathered that the reason for their demand for Amaechi’s resignation is not unconnected with the recent happenings in the party that has suffered serial defeats in the hands of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
According to sources, Amaechi’s silence amid the woeful failure of the APC in the last governorship and house of assembly election and the predicament of its gubernatorial candidate, Tonye Cole, in his quest to challenge the result of the polls at the election tribunal is not going down well with members of the party.
According to the sources, the angry members believe that the former transport minister is not doing anything to ensure that their party bounces back neither is he helping their governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, to fight for his cause.
Moreover, the anti-Amaechi APC members are said to be blaming the recent resignation and defection of one of their house of assembly candidates in the last election, Chief Alex Wele, on Amaechi’s inactivity and insensitivity to the plight of his subordinates.
Thus, the angry APC members, the sources noted, are worried that more members of the party might quit and defect to the PDP if Amaechi is allowed to remain as leader of the party, hence their call for his urgent resignation.
However, a member of the APC, who appeared to be pro-Amaechi, denied the report, attributing it to the handiwork of mischief makers.
On why the APC leader has remained silent since the just concluded election, the APC member told The Gist that the former Rivers State Governor is busy writing an examination as a law student.
Recall that the chairman of the APC in Rivers State, Emeka Beke, was impeached a few days ago by a faction of the party.
The executive members, at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also announced the suspension of the State Legal Adviser, Iheanyichukwu Azubuike and State Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju.
They accused the said suspended executive members of involvement in anti-party activities, gross misconduct and financial mismanagement.
The aggrieved excos were led by the State Deputy Chairman, Omiete Eferebo, with the communique read by a state official, Chike Enyinda.
They also berated the state leader of the party and immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi for failing to lead the APC in Rivers State to victory since leaving office as Governor in 2015.
The excos further accused him of involvement in anti-party activities, saying that the former governor before the 2023 presidential election directed members of the APC to vote for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.
According to the aggrieved executive members, this directive was what affected the chances of the party to win the state-level elections, as members of the APC continued to vote against the APC because Amechi failed as a leader to give a counter directive during the governorship and State assembly elections.
They went on to state that Rotimi Amaechi, instead of being remorseful for his alleged failed leadership, openly criticised the President-elect, Bola Tinubu who is a member of the party for having a hand in the appointment of the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
The APC Executive members said the actions of Rotimi Amaechi who has continued to single-handedly enjoy the state quota of the party at the national level as out the state chapter of the APC at a cross road with the incoming presidential administration, even though they are the same political party.
They, therefore called on the National Leadership of the APC to investigate the activities of Rotimi Amaechi in Rivers State to take appropriate actions to reposition the party.
They also appointed the Deputy Chairman in Rivers State, Omiete Eferebo, to serve as the State Chairman in an Acting capacity.
They announced Mr Chike Enyinda, who read the communique, as the Acting Spokesperson, and a replacement for the State Legal Adviser pending the outcome of an independent investigation by a committee to be set up by the Party.
The communique was signed by all 10 executive members present at the media briefing.
The State Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress is yet to respond to this development.
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