The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State has explained its decision not to field candidates in Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas during the recently concluded council elections, while extending a fresh call to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to join the party.
The party said its action was purely strategic, insisting it had no capacity to challenge the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in those LGAs, and that the choice not to contest eventually proved to be a successful move.
Elaborating further, the Rivers APC caretaker chairman, Tony Okocha, argued that the political reality in the state heavily favored the PDP, especially in areas where their candidates were widely perceived to have performed well in office. He explained that entering the race under such circumstances would have amounted to an exercise in futility.
Okocha insisted that the decision was not about weakness but about adopting a pragmatic electoral approach to secure overall gains for the party across the state.
Okocha said, “There’s what they call comparative advantage during elementary economics and even international law alright.
“You don’t go and put your team in a place where you know that the answer to it will be failure. We didn’t have the strength to contend with the elections in Phalga because again, the man who was the PDP candidate was a mayor, was Chairman of Port Harcourt City local government council.
“And reports that reached us, were that he did perform extremely well and so that the people were going to pay him back.”
He further maintained that the approach was deliberate, stressing that the party carefully calculated where it stood a realistic chance of success.
“I told you that we’re contesting elections, not to test the waters. We were contesting elections to win, it’s our own strategy not to field candidates in Onelga, Phalga and Obio/Akpor local government.
“It was a strategy. I mean what are you fielding candidates for in Obio/Akpor for. APC, fielding candidates in Obio/Akpor?”
The APC chieftain also responded to concerns over defections, noting that the party deliberately recruited politicians with strong track records from the PDP, and that many of the movements happened discreetly to avoid political tension.
He added, “I’m sure you know what they call defection, Yes. Take for instance, how many political parties has Atiku Abubakar joined from 1999 to today, about seven or eight. And each time he jumps to another political party, he went to aspire to be president. So, has Nigerians killed him?
“PDP is in tatters, I don’t have to hide that very fact and you all know that the party is in tartars.”
Okocha concluded by disclosing that the Rivers APC’s long-term objective was to consolidate its strength by wooing not just members of the State Assembly but also Wike himself, whom he described as critical to the party’s ambition of taking over Rivers politics.
He said, “The time is ripe. We’ll continue to be on on them, not even them alone.
“We’ll continue to beckon on the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, to come over to APC and have peace. PDP is in tatters.”