… Faction loyal to Amaechi warns RSIEC against dealing with Wike-backed Tony Okocha faction
The two different factions belonging to Nyeson Wike and Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi ever fighting for supremacy in the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) are sure to clash at the forthcoming local council elections in the state.
The LGA election is seen as the only genuine attempt to rebuild democracy in the state and use it to test who controls the grassroots political structure in the state from which to build the state structure and vie for power at the state level.
Now, both factions have concluded their list of nominees to contest the August 30, 2025 elections. The Amaechi faction led by Emeka Beke which was prevaricating over the decision to participate has bounced back to throw their card into the game, ready to contest. They had earlier said the RSIEC did not give the constitutionally stipulated 90 days, which was an earlier reason for annulling the October 6, 2024 exercise which was swept by the Sim Fubara camp.
Now, Fubara, who is serving initial six months suspension, has surrendered to the federal power and his erstwhile godfather, Wike, and thus has no interest in the LGA elections. The two forces now seem to be Wike and Amaechi forces. Wike is officially in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but also controls the APC in the state. Amaechi is now in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) but his people in Rivers State are still holding out in the APC.
The camp sprang up Wednesday, August 13, 2025, handing a warning to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) against accepting any list of candidates from any group other than the Beke-led state executive committee.
Read also: APC, PDP, 15 other parties kick off campaign ahead Rivers LG poll
Addressing a press conference at the party secretariat in the GRA in Port Harcourt, Darlington Nwauju, the publicity secretary of the faction, made it clear that there is a subsisting judgment in Rivers State APC which has not been vacated, and that the judgment recognises Beke as the true chairman of the APC in Rivers State. “So, the APC in Rivers State recognized by law has written to RSIEC not to deal with any other person for the APC in the state. This is like a Caveat Emptor.”
He went on: “Should RSIEC fail to recognize persons known to the law who should submit our candidates, then, they seek disaster. In fact, RSIEC should apologise to Rivers people for such act. If RSIEC fails to deal with the Emeka Beke list as persons who should submit the authentic list of candidates for the August 30, 2025, election, they would be creating disaster.”
Nwauju stated that they have been written to, on official grounds, and that a body of evidence has been attached including court judgments, that if they (RSIEC) still choose to deal with persons that were unknown to the law, it would show that there is a lacuna in the state.
“Another point we would want to emphasise is that we appeal to the National Working Committee (NWC) under the pragmatic leadership of Nentawe Gashwe Yilwatda, to as of fact, fairness, and reason look at the fact that there is a leadership of the APC in Rivers State and that it should not be in contempt of the court order because there is a court order in Rivers State to that effect. Any attempt to continue to relate with any person known to law in this state amounts to disregard and disrespect.”
He stated further: “I have said it before that on the 29th of September 2024, the Chief Justice of the Federation had warned Nigerians not to override and disrespect orders and rulings of courts in Nigeria. We in APC in Rivers State warn against going that same route of disrespect to the rule of law and judgments of courts. It must not be allowed for anybody to continue to portray our party as a lawless organization.”
Reacting to questions of if primaries were conducted by the faction, Nwauju said: “I must state that our party has laid down methods that can be used to nominate candidates for any election. It has three methods of nominating a candidate: the direct election method, the indirect method, and the consensus. We have chosen the consensus method. Our party has validly nominated candidates for the 23 LGAs in Rivers State. So, anybody dealing with any other list not authorized by Chief Emeka Beke is acting outside the law.
“The APC is contesting the election and our lawyers are interfacing with RSIEC in terms of submission of list of our candidates.”
Meanwhile, the Okocha-led camp seems not to look back in their preparations for the elections, having held primaries and now set to kick-start campaigns on Thursday, August 14, 2025.
According to Vincent Gbosi, Special Assistant on Media to Okocha (State Chairman), the decision to begin the campaigns was reached at the enlarged state executive committee at their own secretariat on Aba Road.
The statement said the meeting was in furtherance of the preparation of the Rivers APC towards the success of the party in the August 30, 2025 LGA in the State as scheduled by the RIEC.
It is not clear which camp RSIEC, seen to be backed by those who brought state of emergency, will recognize. It is also not clear which APC camp would fly the flag of the party in the coming LGA elections.
