The Special Assistant to the Rivers Governor on Electronic Media, Jerry Omatsogunwa, has called on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples to pronounce his principal as leader of the party in the state.
Omatsogunwa said the NWC must immediately correct the anomaly in the Rivers PDP, where the immediate-past governor, Nyesom Wike, is contending with Governor Siminalayi Fubara for the leadership of the party in the state.
Omatsogunwa said since the return to democracy in 1999, the trend has been that the incumbent governor will be the leader of the ruling party in the state, wondering why that of Fubara was different.
He warned that Fubara may dump the party if he is not handed the structure of the Rivers PDP.
“They (NWC) should do the right thing. The right thing is that the governor is the leader of the party in the state and his (Fubara’s) own case should not be different.
“When Dr Peter Odili was the Governor of Rivers State, he was the political leader of the state and also the leader of the party, that is the PDP.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi took over and also became the leader of the party and the political leader of the state. Nyesom Wike became the political leader of the state and also the leader of the party.
“So, the anomalies in the whole system are what the Governors’ forum intends to correct tomorrow (today). And they can work with the National Working Committee to make sure that these anomalies don’t go far.
“If they allow it (anomalies) to fly. I just pity the PDP because the governor, since they have toed the line with our governor, Siminalayi Fubara, may also decide to rock the boat.
“They can decide to say okay sink or float with this man. Another issue is that there was a court order, ordering these people not to carry out the ward and local government congresses, which they said they have done,” he told Punch.
Omatsogunwa warned that the PDP might lose Rivers State to the opposition party if the crisis was not well handled.
“Remember the All Progressives Congress had the same issue when the court gave them an order in 2019 not to go ahead with congresses, but they went ahead and you know the result where there was no candidate for disobedience of court order.
“The Supreme Court specifically said that you cannot benefit from your stupidity. I hope the PDP will not wallow in stupidity and so that we will not regret the stupidity in the end since the court has given that order.\
“So I hope that the right thing will be done, the governor given the structure and the leadership of the party so that he can move and do well,” he added.
