There is growing tension in Rivers State following the sack of the Chief Godpower Umejuru Ake-led executive of the state chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by an Abuja High Court.
The Ake-led executive of the party is alleged to be loyal to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who is currently in a cold war with President Goodluck Jonathan over the 2015 presidential election on one side and with the Minister of State for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike over the Rivers East senatorial seat in 2015.
There was jubilation in the political camp of Wike on Monday evening when the news of the court judgement filtered into Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Wike’s camp led by former chairmen of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni and Okrika local government areas of the state, Felix Amaechi Obuah and Walter Ibibia Opuene, respectively, had dragged the PDP and four others to court, asking it stop the party from recognizing Ake as chairman of the party in the state.
Other defendants in the suit are the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), chairman, and secretary of the electoral panel of the PDP in Rivers State, Chief Dan Orbih and Barrister Steve Emekieze respectively.
Meanwhile, there are indications that the main opposition political party in the state, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), may pull out of the newly formed political group, All Progressives Congress (APC) following the sack of the Ake-led executive of the PDP.
The ACN joined forces with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the APC, which is currently seeking registration as a political party from INEC.