A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State and now stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Uchenna Okokoba has expressed delight over the gale of defections that has recently hit his erstwhile political party, contending that going by the fact that Governor Nyesom Wike has made the state politically impregnable for the opposition through the good works of his administration, the APC would have no other choice than to boycott the 2019 general elections in the state.
Okokoba, who made the remarks in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt said the APC would boycott the elections in the state as it did during the local government elections this year and the presidential election in 2015.
He revealed that the APC tactically avoided defeat by boycotting the June 16 local government elections in the state because it knew there was no way it would have defeated the ruling PDP at the polls.
According to him, instead of facing this reality squarely, the leaders of the party were rather feeding President Muhammadu Buhari and Abuja with a lie that the party was on ground.
Okokoba recalled how in the same manner APC lost out during the 2015 presidential election in the state, as the leader of the party in the state and former Governor of the State, Rotimi Amaechi, allegedly directed the party members to beat a retreat after reading the political handwriting on the wall, with the hope that the party was going to regain what it had lost through the cancellation of the election results in the state.
The PDP stalwart, who was then a member of the APC campaign team and one of the directors of the mobilisation committee said he knew how the APC lost the election in the state.
“I know how we planned for the election and lost the presidential and other federal elections in the state. I was among the 24-man campaign managers of the APC in the 23 local government areas of the state and I represented the non-indigenes.
During any election period, when the APC senses that the PDP has mobilised to win clean and square, it will boycott as it did during the recent local govt elections”, he said.
Okokoba dismissed claims that Governor Wike allegedly bribed with N3.2billion the federal lawmakers who recently defected from the APC to the PDP, saying that the current gale of defections was like a situation where a man borrowed a suit for his wedding and after the occasion, returned it to its rightful owner. According to him, the APC members originaly belonged to the PDP and had by their defection, returned home to join hands with leaders like Wike to revive democracy in the country.
Okokoba described Governor Wike as the messiah Nigerians are anxiously waiting for going by the fact that he has cultivated friendship across political, ethnic and religious boundaries in the country and also acquitted himself creditably in the provision of democracy dividends to the people.
He said he dumped the APC for the PDP several months ago after sensing that the PDP was going to win the 2019 elections both in the state and at the national level. “I had this strong conviction based on Governor Wike good works.
I did not come to the PDP to be recognised but to make an impact. What I saw several months ago, has manifested today going by the gale of defections of APC leaders across the country”, he said.
The President General of Igbo Title Holders in Rivers State, therefore, advised the Igbos to align with the PDP instead of the APC in order to actualize their presidential aspirations, saying the APC structure has already been hijacked by politicians like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu and his defunct action.
Congress of Nigeria (CAN) loyalists who occupy several juicy positions in the APC-led federal government.

Donatus Ebi