Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
The Rivers chapter of African Action Congress, AAC has descended into crisis barely four days after the party lost the state’s governorship election to Governor Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The party, which was supported by the All Progressives Congress to emerge second in the Rivers March 9 gubernatorial election has suspended its Secretary and its State Agent, Nenye Kocha.
Kocha, who acted as AAC’S agent during the collation of the results of the Presidential and Governorship Elections was accused of being involved in anti-party activities by allegedly working more for the interests of PDP than AAC.
He has however insisted that he remains the State Secretary of party, because no meeting of the State Executive was convened to take the decision to suspend him.
Kocha also dismissed the allegations of anti-party activities, describing it as the product of imagination of Biokpomabo Awara, the AAC gubernatorial candidate and some other members of the party.
The suspended Secretarysaid, “Biokpomabo Awara and the State Chairman, Progress Opokpuma are the ones that are engaged in anti-party activities because they entered into alliances with APC without the knowledge, agreement or MOU at national level.”
Speaking on the suspension of the party’s Secretary, the state Chairman, Mr Progress Okpokuma said that the anti-party activities of the Kocha was first noticed during the Presidential election and he was subsequently asked to step aside as the State Collation Agent, but Mrs Agbamuche-Mbu, the INEC Officer in charge of Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa-Ibom states refused to accept his replacement.
AAC gubernatorial candidate Awara had earlier described Kocha as a double agent who is working for the interest of Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Speaking during the collation of the result of the givernorshipo election, Awara said, “Nenye Kocha is not working for my interest and that of AAC. How can attest to his integrity when he drove into the INEC Collation centre in Hon. Austin Opara’s car ? Opara is the State PDP Agent for Collation of PDP result.
“When we noticed that he was working for the PDP during the Presidential election. We substituted him with Dr Lawrence Chukwu.I also told him that during the Governorship Collation he will not be the State Collating Agent. And that we were replacing him with Dr Lawrence Chukwu.
“But Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, Supervising Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa-Ibom refused insisting that she will only accept the old name,who is Nenye Kocha. This morning for instance, Kocha drove into the INEC Collation Centre with Austin Opara, tell me is this person representing me?”