By Oyinkansayo Wole-Bodunde.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has supported President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State, claiming it has resolved 90% of the crisis.
Chief Tony Okocha, chairman of the APC’s caretaker committee in Rivers State, made this assertion during a thank you visit to the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Okocha argued that the suspension of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the State Assembly was a necessary evil, saying, “For the immediate, it was necessary. The decision of Mr President was a necessary evil. Whether the impeachment or suspension as it were today, I can tell you that 90 percent of the political crisis in Rivers was solved.”
He used a hernia operation analogy to drive home his point. He said, “It is like when you have a hernia, and the only solution is for an operation. The hernia is painful and the operation is painful, but without the operation, you won’t have any peace.”
Okocha also addressed criticism that Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike should have been suspended alongside Fubara, saying Wike was not directly involved in the crisis. He pointed out that Wike, as the former Governor of Rivers State, had sponsored the 32 assembly members, but that didn’t necessarily mean he should be suspended.
Okocha described Fubara as the “weakest political investment” and implied that his suspension was necessary to prevent further chaos. He concluded by saying that those calling for Wike’s suspension were missing the point, and that the governor had become too powerful, with his “head becoming bigger than his pillow.”
