According to former presidential prosecution aide Okoi Obono-Obla, Vice President Kashim Shettima’s purported warning to Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesome Wike about the All Progressives Congress’s leadership in Rivers State is needless.
According to reports, Shettima said that governors are the party leaders in their states during a speech on Wednesday in Enugu.
Given that the Minister had made it apparent that Governor Siminalayi Fubara is not the APC’s leader in Rivers State, some people had taken Shettima’s remarks as a direct threat to Wike.
In an interview with Daily Post, Obono-Obla stated that there is no disagreement on leadership since the party’s rules automatically designate the governor of a state under its control as the party’s head.
However, he stated, “The Vice President is not wholly incorrect to make such an assertion if the Governors assume such a toga by convention within the Party.” But since Minister Nyesom Wike is not an APC member in Rivers State, it might not be suitable to send it to him.
However, Obono-Obla pointed out that although there is no clause in the APC Constitution designating APC-elected governors as the Party’s leaders in their respective states, they do so implicitly and traditionally.
He said that this method is contentious since some contend that governors take advantage of the lack of a clearly defined function and its obligations to grant themselves total power, which they frequently utilize to encourage cronyism and godfatherism.
In order to guarantee that leadership duties are appropriately defined and to prevent the misuse of convention, the party stalwart demanded clarification in the APC Constitution.
