Wike uses Obuah to torment Amaechi’s followers — Gov’s aide

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013  

Chief of Staff, Rivers State Government House, Mr. Tony Okocha

The Chief of Staff, Rivers State Government House, Mr. Tony Okocha, in this interview with CHUKWUDI AKASIKE, speaks on the recent expulsion of some members of the State Executive Council by the Peoples Democratic Party in the state

What is you view on the expulsion of 14 commissioners and four other members of the Peoples Democratic Party that are loyal to Governor Rotimi Amaechi?

The expulsion, by all standards, is not recognised by us. It is another attempt to deceive the PDP at the national level. We are not loyal to the Felix Obuah-led PDP; we are loyal to the Godspower Ake-led PDP in Rivers State and where is this so-called expulsion coming from? It is coming from the Felix Obuah-led PDP in Rivers State. It (Obuah-led PDP) is an enemy’s camp; nothing good comes from an enemy. But for whatever it is worth, we are thinking that the PDP at the national level should call Obuah and his co-travellers to order, particularly at a period when political parties are busy trying to mobilise support and prepare for elections in 2015, the PDP in the state is scattering its own family.

I don’t know whose interest it will serve if 14 members of the cabinet, the Secretary to the State Government and myself are expelled from the party, even when we hold the ace in our respective local government areas and in our respective wards. Politics is about the ability to mobilise the people for political parties except we want to re-enact what we have forgotten; the era of result writing. If politics is about people coming out to vote for people who they want to represent them, then PDP should realise that it is on the verge of collapse.

Obuah said the affected persons, including you, were expelled from the party because they refused to appear before the Performance Evaluation Committee of the state PDP. How true is that?

I told you before that I do not recognise Obuah as the chairman of PDP in Rivers State. If he claims that he is the chairman of the PDP in Rivers State, then it is a claim that is acceptable only to those who support him. I am a core believer of PDP and that the PDP in Rivers State is headed by Mr. Godspower Ake, who of course contested the state election here, where a state congress of the party was held and supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission. First and foremost, there is no such thing (performance evaluation) in our law. There is nothing in the constitution of the PDP that recognises evaluation whatever; I don’t know whatever nomenclature they have attached to it.

Besides, when you are a candidate of a political party, you are accountable to the political party. But when you are elected into a particular office, you are no longer serving the interest of the political party; you are serving the interest of the electorate. As a governor, you are serving the interest of the state. In the case of a House of Assembly member, you are serving the interest of your constituency. Those that have the power to summon you and ask questions bordering on what you have done with the mandate given to you are those who actually voted for you — the people. So, the establishment of that committee is in error and as I speak with you, it is something that nobody has ever thought of in this world. I am hearing of it for the first time.

Are you saying it is alien to the PDP?

Yes. It is alien to the party and it is indeed calculated, it is indeed a witch-hunt. But how did they do it? They heard that Dr. Sam Sam-Jaja was elected deputy chairman of PDP and for whatever reason, INEC said there was no proper election and he obtained a form to still re-contest for the deputy chairman of the PDP. He was one of those that were expelled to make way for Uche Secondus, who, of course, is one of their cronies. But I believe that the PDP at the national level, knowing the implication of the actions taken by Felix Obuah, will resist and refuse it because it is serving the interest of just an infinitesimal few.

I make bold to say clearly that this is the handiwork of the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike. This is his style of politics. I worked with him when he was local government chairman and I know all his political antics. You know that he had already floated a campaign organisation known as Grassroots Development Initiative. You can recall that when they went to Ahoada East, his surrogate, Obuah, announced him as the person who would take over from Rotimi Amaechi in 2015. What I am worried about is that when states are trying to see how the number of their delegates to the PDP convention will swell, the PDP in Rivers State is busy destroying and reducing its number.

Do you think that the expulsion announced by the state PDP was targetted at only pro-Amaechi members of the party?

Very well, nothing else. Okay, look at the so-called expulsion, they listed 14 commissioners and left the other ones out and the reason they gave was that those left out submitted their reports by proxy. They actually told the world yesterday that it was a blatant lie. What were they (state PDP) trying to do? They were trying to sow the seeds of discord, distrust, disaffection, so that people will believe that some of the cabinet members are in support of the governor while others are against the governor. It will not stand.

How would you rate the performance of Felix Obuah as the PDP chairman,especially since the crisis in the state began?

I do not recognise him as the chairman of the state PDP. For anybody who would want to assess him in view of what role a father should play to a son, if he is genuinely the chairman of the state PDP and we have a PDP administration in the state, should he be an antagonist to that system that he supposedly should be a father to. What you see every day on the pages of newspapers and on television is Felix Obuah-led PDP antagonising government policies that are in place, making itself a shadow government. I have never seen that happen in life.

Do you think Obuah is an appendage of the the national leadership of the PDP?

Obuah is used as a surrogate; he is a puppet; he is an appendage. There is a man who is at the epicentre of this whole deceit, Mr. Nyesom Wike. I am talking about the minister, who does not know how to compete. But any time there is confusion, he becomes a star. He is the one who initiates the confusion and tells people at Abuja that he will deliver; deliver what? He is of the same Obio/Akpor local government with me and when he comes to Obio/Akpor local government, we have what is called collegiate leadership; everybody goes to his ward to deliver and you return your result. He (Wike) does not go beyond his own ward to deliver results for any other ward. The truth is that the governor is the signpost for PDP in Nigeria.

Do you think the actions of the state PDP was targetted at stopping the governor and his supporters from attending the party’s national convention?

Clearly, that is their intention. Beyond that, the other sinister motive, is to send fake people to the convention ground. Don’t be surprised that if you reach there, somebody would  claim to be Tony Okocha, Chief of Staff, Government House on that convention ground. Somebody will be there to pretend he is  George Feyii, Secretary to the State Government; somebody will be there to bear the name of one commissioner or the other. That is what they are trying to do. The truth is that the expulsion is unconstitutional. The party in the state has no power to expel; it is the National Executive Council of the party that has power to expel members. By the way, the issue of expulsion emanates from the wards.

How would describe speculations that Governor Amaechi and six other governors are floating a new political party known as Voice of the People?

What I have been telling people is that when the All Progressives Congress was registered, Governor Amaechi was linked to it; Peoples Democratic Movement got registered, they linked him to it and I told the press that came to interview me then that they would also link him up with ID, a new political party that was also registered recently. Now, there is a group called Voice of the People; he is also linked with it. This means that he is a great man. This means that they know that Amaechi is a factor in Nigerian politics.