The defection by Rivers State deputy governor from APC to PDP adds to the rising tension in the state’s politics, Assistant Editor (South South), JOE EZUMA, reports.
On Monday, March 23, 2015, Rivers State Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, caused a stir in the All Progressives Congress (APC) camp in the state, when he defected from the party and returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Coming at a time the campaigns for national and state elections were at their peak, the action, TheNiche learnt, raised concern in Rivers Government House and the camp of the APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside.
The development also sparked off flurry of activities, including re-adjustment of APC campaign strategies, given that it boosted morale in the rival opposition PDP in the state and beyond.
Although Ikuru announced his departure from APC on Sunday, March 22, he formally did so the next day, when he was received by the PDP. At the occasion, he claimed to have been deceived and misguided by the governor, Rotimi Amaechi, into joining APC with him.
“I must confess, we were deceived into thinking that the defection was in the interest of Rivers State. We were misguided by the information that was presented to us. But as we went along, I discovered the truth of it all. My resignation speech said it all: I spoke from my heart. There was no iota of pretence in it. I did not intend to run anyone down. It is simply telling the truth. It is just that my heart could no longer take the drift in the APC. Now, I have come back to my original political family.
“I confessed to someone this morning that for the first time in 18 months, I slept and woke up with the peace of mind. I say so because I can now stand with a clear conscience. I have now totally washed my hands of the treachery of working against my state and region. If we allow what is happening now in Rivers State to continue, it will later come to haunt us, our children and our grandchildren, and may continue even up to the fourth generation. We must not allow this to happen in our time,” he had stressed.
But APC would not allow him run away unscathed. In fact, in apparent confirmation of what had been a running allegation by Ikuru’s critics within the party all the while, the APC said that it knew that the deputy governor had been a mole in its fold, describing his move to the PDP as “good riddance”.
APC chairman in the state, Davies Ikanya, said: “Contrary to the thinking in some quarters, the defection of Tele Ikuru did not come to us as a surprise. Rather than being shocked, we feel relieved that he is no more part of us because Ikuru was a PDP mole in our midst all these while. Unknown to most people, Ikuru initially refused to leave PDP for APC with Governor Rotimi Amaechi in November 2013. However, after series of meetings with his uncle and political mentor, Uche Secondus, the National Vice Chairman of PDP, and some other PDP bigwigs, he was prevailed upon to follow his principal into APC.
“Ikuru was asked to stay behind to monitor the activities of APC and most importantly to act as a mole for his uncle and plot the fall of APC in the state – a mission which he failed to accomplish because APC is not just a party in Rivers State but indeed a revolutionary movement fully embraced and jealously guarded by the people of the state.”
Ikanya’s explanation notwithstanding, the surprising development gave way to fears of further defection, especially given the remark by PDP governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, at the height of the state’s political crisis in June last year.
Wike had then told his supporters that some commissioners and local government chairmen remaining in Amaechi’s government were just marking time because of stomach infrastructure, assuring that over time, they would return to the PDP.
“I am in touch with most of them,” he had hinted.
What added weight to the remark was that Ikuru’s defection was followed by the rumours of about six commissioners warming up for defection to the PDP.
State PDP chairman, Felix Obuah, at the formal defection of the Ikuru, added to the tension when he declared that he was talking with about 21 serving commissioners and two-thirds of the state lawmakers on their planned defection to PDP.
Amaechi, however, put a lie to the claim, assuring that all his commissioners and the other 32 members of the State Executive Council (SEC) remained members of APC and did not have the intention of defecting from the party.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the second emergency executive council meeting held at the Executive Chamber of the Government House, Port Harcourt, Amaechi said the exco members would remain loyal to him and the people of the state.
The Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, confirmed that the 32 members, except Ikuru, were present at the meeting.
“The exco remains intact. None of the members has resigned; they don’t have any intention to resign and they will remain members of APC in the state,” she said.
Obuah, however, remained excited with the turn of events, stressing that they signalled the failure of APC in the state. Since the unfolding development, there had been flurry of meetings and activities in the Rivers Government House, apparently for damage control and adjustment of propaganda machines as well as alerting on the frosty relationship between the security agencies in the state and Amaechi’s government.
One of such engagements was the meeting by the party’s leadership with caretaker chairmen of councils.