As Rivers State and Nigeria await the return of democracy in Rivers State come September 18, 2025, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has made a commitment to cooperate with the State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara on his return.
Recall that the APC, which clinched the chairmanship of 20 out of 23 local government positions at last Saturday’s election in the state, was very critical of the Governor during the heat of the controversy leading to his suspension.
The party, on several occasions, then accused Fubara of committing impeachable offences and called for his ouster by the state house of assembly.
However, at a press briefing on Tuesday to thank the Rivers electorates for massively voting for party Chief Tony Okocha, who also expressed optimism on the eventual return of Fubara by September 18 assured that the party would cooperate with the Governor going forward.
He immediately explained that the promised cooperation would not take away the party’s rights to criticise the governor when he does wrong, assuring that the LGA Chairmen would work with him “except that we will not agree to vicious policies”.
“The governor who was suspended will return to office on 18th of September. APC will work with him when he returns,” Okocha stated.
“There are states where the governor and assembly members are in different parties, so we are going to work with him. However, that will not take away our rights to criticize him when he does wrong, but for us, the LGA Chairmen will work with him, except that we will not agree to vicious policies.”
Okocha described the just-concluded local government elections in the state as a prelude to the 2027 general elections, noting that the APC deliberately chose not to field candidates in strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but concentrated on areas where it had comparative advantage.
“The Rivers State LG election is a prelude to what will happen in 2027,” he explained.
“Whilst we were campaigning, I told our people that there is a need for us to believe in the centre and leave the periphery. We did not field candidates in Obio/Akpor, Phalga and Onelga because we do not have the strength in those areas. It was our own calculated strategy not to field candidates in those LGAs and concentrate only where we have comparative advantage. Remember that Rivers State was a PDP state.”
The APC chairman expressed optimism about the party’s growing influence, contrasting its position in the 2023 elections with its current status.
He added that the party’s success at the local government election was help by the protracted conflict in the camp of the main opposition party the PDP, which has left it in tatters.
Okocha took aim at the PDP, saying the party was collapsing and its members were defecting to the APC.
“PDP is in tatters and people are leaving them in droves to other parties and we’re privileged to have them,” he stressed.
“We’ll continue our pleas for PDP members, particularly the FCT Minister, to come over to APC and have peace. PDP is in tatters.”
