The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has moved to end the raging debate over the party’s leadership in Rivers State, emphatically affirming Governor Siminalayi Fubara as the undisputed leader of the APC in the state.
Yilwatda made the declaration on Friday night while speaking on Channels Television’s current affairs programme, Hard Copy, shutting down speculations and internal power play within the party.
According to the APC chairman, the party’s constitution leaves no room for ambiguity, clearly recognising governors of APC-controlled states as leaders of the party in their respective states.
“In all the states, we have the state governors that lead the party in their respective states,” he said.
He, however, cautioned that such authority must be exercised with inclusion, stressing that governors are expected to carry all stakeholders along — a commitment he said Governor Fubara has already shown in Rivers State.
“At the same time, we tell the governors who have leaders at the national level to respect inclusion,” he added.
On Fubara’s second-term ambition, Yilwatda said the APC would throw its weight behind the governor if he emerges as the party’s flagbearer through the primary process conducted by accredited delegates.
“If Siminalayi emerges as the candidate of the APC in Rivers State, I will stand by him,” he said.
The APC national chairman also played down the perceived influence of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in Rivers APC affairs, noting that the minister is not a member of the party and therefore irrelevant to its internal decisions.
He insisted that discussions around non-members were unnecessary.
Yilwatda’s intervention appears to have silenced political agitators and crisis merchants, many of whom have sought to exploit internal disagreements to fuel confusion and needless controversy in the state.
