Those dreaming of interim govt will be disappointed – APC chieftain
Achieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tony Okocha, has said there will be no vacuum in the presidency as President Muhammadu Buhari leaves office on May 29. He said Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would be sworn in as the next President, adding that anyone dreaming of interim government would be disappointed.
Okocha, the leader of the Rivers State APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) for Tinubu/Shettima joint ticket, spoke yesterday during a visit by Orashi APC members to him in Port Harcourt.
He said: “Even nature abhors vacuum. There can be no vacuum in governance; “more so when election has been conducted and a President-elect has emerged. The person that was declared winner in the election shall be sworn in on May 29.”
Although Tinubu’s victory is being contested by the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Labour Party’s (LP’s) standard-bearer, Peter Obi, at the election tribunal, Okocha said he was optimistic that Tinubu would be inaugurated on May 29 to take over from outgoing President Buhari.
Speaking about Rivers APC crisis, he identified totalitarianism as the leadership style that had run the party in the state aground.
“I was a founding member of APC in Rivers State. I was one of those in the mainstream of the founding of APC in Rivers State. I have said this on many occasions, I have told many broadcast stations within and outside this state.
“If you talk about those in the mainstream, the kitchen to the founding of APC in Rivers State, I am number two after Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. He was the Governor, while I was the Chief of Staff.
“As the Chief of Staff of the Government House, I was in charge of the political desk. I was the decision maker to the governor, particularly when it came to issues of politics. I was the engine room; I did all the overt and covert assignments,” Okocha said.
He described former governor Dr. Peter Odili and Governor Nyesom Wike as the fathers of modern politics in Rivers State.