Chris Finebone, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, claims he has uncovered plans by a group working in cohort with the Rivers government to use the state judiciary to destabilize the party.
Finebone, a former spokesperson for the party in Rivers made the allegation in a statement on Tuesday.
He alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike and the Rivers chapter of PDP hatched the plot to destabilize the APC nationwide by making available Rivers State courts to enemies of the party (within and from outside the State) to file all manner of cases against it with a view to destabilizing the party as politics of 2023 approaches.
Finebone further claimed that he learned from sources he did not disclose that the decision to use Rivers Courts was hatched at the highest level of government directly involving the state governor and his closest allies in the PDP following the successful defection of Gov. Umahi of Ebonyi State to the APC.
The APC chieftain further alleged that decision is to forestall or, at least, frustrate the likes of Umahi who are reportedly warming up to dump the PDP in future as speculations are rife that many more governors and leaders in PDP are about jumping ship.
The former spokesman of APC claim that while still investigating the story further through other sources, news come out that barely 24 hours after an APC NEC meeting and far reaching decisions were taken on the affairs of the party, a group in Rivers APC has filed a fresh suit against the membership re-validation exercise announced by the party.
“Preliminary investigation to unravel those behind the suit revealed that it is the same tendencies within the APC in Rivers State that have been working in cahoots with the Rivers State Government to weaken and sequestrate the APC in Rivers State using the State courts that are at work again.
“As things stand, a flurry of cases against the APC through the Courts in Rivers State is expected to unravel in the days ahead with the intention to roll back the expected exodus of PDP members into the APC nationwide. The intention is also to distract the APC from consolidating and becoming even stronger for the PDP in future”.
Recall that due to internal crisis, the Rivers chapter of APC has been torn into shreds with numerous injunctions and court cases filed against each other by factions led by the Transportation Minister Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe, the former Senator representing Rivers South East who is now a member of the Board of Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC.
The intractable wrangling in the party and the court orders denied the party participation in the 2019 general elections.
At the time of filing this report, neither the Rivers State Government or the chapter of PDP in Rivers has reacted to the allegation.
