A factional Caretaker Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State, Dr Nname Ewor, has announced the official handover of his faction to the camp aligned with the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, declaring an end to factional control within the state chapter.
Ewor made the announcement on Friday during the FCT Minister’s “thank-you” tour engagements in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area.
He said the faction had been handed over to Aaron Chukwuemeka, adding that the entire PDP was now united behind Wike.
“I’m Sim’s PDP chairman. I hope you people know. Today, I’m handing over the chairmanship and leadership of that faction to Aaron Chukwemeka. PDP is no longer factionalised in Rivers State. PDP is under one chairman, and under one leadership, under the FCT leader,” he said.
PUNCH Online reports that the development follows Ewor’s earlier public rebuke of Fubara’s defection to the All Progressive Congress at a press conference on Friday, and his insistence that the governor disclose the full details of peace efforts brokered at the national level, which he says have not been honoured.
Speaking further, the Chairman stated that he had been loyal to Fubara, believing that he was being intimidated by the FCT Minister. However, he noted that he had “found the truth,” referring to the governor’s failure to honour two separate agreements brokered by the President.
“I followed Sim honestly and sincerely from my heart, believing that our minister was not fair to him, was undoing him, was intimidating him. That was the belief.
“And that is the belief of so many people, including those who are there with him, that believe that the minister is intimidating him, is undoing him.
“If the president mediated twice, and he didn’t think, that means you cannot be trusted. Can such a leader be trusted? We can’t trust him.
“That was why I said, my people died for what? Knowledge. People are dying there. I’m sure one day, one by one, they will discover the truth,” he said.
Ewor further noted that nothing in either of the peace deals brokered by the President was aimed at undermining the governor’s leadership, adding that the crisis in the state, and the declaration of a state of emergency, happened because of Fubara’s inability to unite both sides.
“If you look at that agreement, tell me one item in that agreement that undermines his office as governor? None. Tell me one thing in that agreement that will impede him from performing as governor.
“The State went into a state of emergency not because the state committed a crime, but because the man at the helm of affairs was unable to handle political issues, to bring people together, to talk to everybody so that we can work as a team,” he stated.
