Tony Okocha, who is the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has accused Rotimi Amaechi, the former governor of the state, of directing his supporters to vote against President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 elections. According to Okocha, Amaechi, a prominent figure in the party and former Transport Minister, motivated by personal differences and perceived arrogance, directed his followers to vote against Tinubu during the elections.
Speaking to The Nation, Okocha clarified that he had not visited Amaechi since becoming the state party’s chairman. He explained that their relationship has gone sour even before Amaechi aspired to be the presidential candidate of the party. Their soured relationship got to a crescendo during the presidential election, and Amaechi felt that Okocha should have supported him, having served as his Chief of Staff previously. However, Okocha was on the side of Asiwaju.
In Okocha’s words, “His problem is that he has no time to listen to his followers because he is arrogant, nobody means anything to him, and he wants everything to be at his whims and caprices. Again, he announced to his followers to vote against Asiwaju. I did not bother to find out his status in the party because we have members of the caretaker committee who are from his camp. It is also completely wrong to claim that we are trying to shut his camp out.”
Okocha further stated that the party under him is not the same as the one before. They will participate in the election in all the wards, not only contest but contest to win. He also said that the party would not be a social club anymore, and they would field candidates for the elections, and where they managed to do, they would not withdraw.