The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has insisted that the 27 lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule never defected to its fold on December 11, 2023.
The denial came as the Supreme Court was expected to deliver a judgment on the defection saga in the months to come.
Chairman, Rivers State chapter of APC in Rivers, Tony Okocha, made the denial yesterday, when he briefed journalists shortly after a meeting of the party’s State Executive Council at the party Secretariat along Aba Road in Port Harcourt.
Okocha, who fielded questions from journalists, insisted that he never received the former lawmakers into the APC, saying what happened at the Port Harcourt Polo Club in December 2023 was not a reception for the 27 lawmakers but an event to celebrate the constitution of a new state executive council of the APC in the state by the national body of the party,
According to Okocha, the lawmakers were invited on individual basis as a result of the relationship that existed between him and them.
Okocha said: “There was no intention to organise a reception for what we were not holding. We were inaugurated in Abuja and we chose to organise a reception and thanksgiving for our members. It was not to receive the 27 lawmakers..
“We were misinterpreted to have received the 27 lawmakers into APC. That is not correct. We invited individual members of the Assembly. I have relationship with them over time. We tried to woo them into the party. I was intentional in reaching out to them to join us. We would have counted it all joy if we had succeeded.
“We want to tell Nigerians that the 27 lawmakers led by the Rt. Hon Martins Amaewhule never defected to the All Progressives Congress. What people flaunt on social media or television cannot put plausible argument for them. The law is not about emotions. It is as strict as it is.”
Blessing Ibunge @ThisDay
