Rivers AC In Divided Over Atiku, Tinubu

Rivers AC In Divided Over Atiku, Tinubu

THE Rivers State wing of the Action Congress (AC) appears to be currently divided betwen the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and the former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, as backstage schemes for 2011 begin to gather steam.

Some AC chieftains in the state, going by the findings of our correspondent, appear to be gravitating towards Tinubu, who they say has been consistently progressive. But the others do not sem to be comfortable with the speculation that Atiku was warming up to return to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a view to running for 2011 Presidency on the platform of the party.

With the unfolding polarisation in Rivers AC, some political observers are of the view that the position the party will eventually take will depend on where Prince Tonye Princewill, the party leader in the state stands.

At the moment, Princewill's position is not yet known. This scion of the Kalabari monarch influenced the political intercourse betwen the AC and the PDP in Rivers. To this extent, the party is an integral part of the Chibuike Amaechi administration.
Rivers AC is seing Atiku, and Tinubu, as the two main political forces that could make or break the party. Princewill supporters are arguing that the party should support Atiku since acording to them, he stood by their mentor when he won the governorship primaries.

But the pro-Tinubu forces are insisting that the Asiwaju stood solidly by Princewill when he purportedly lost the controversial 2007 gubernatorial election to Celestine Omehia of the PDP who was later sacked from office by the Suprem Court in October 2007.

Going by the facts on the ground, both Atiku and Tinubu love Princewill despite their alleged weak attempts at denying their role in his support for Amaechi. It is being said in some of the party circles in the state that when Atiku was outside the country, it was Tinubu and Princewill that sustained and funded the activities of the state branch.

Acording to an AC insider, ''when we were to challenge the purported victory of Omehia at the Election PetitionTribunal, it was Tinubu who made huge funds available for us to mpursue the case. It was Tinubu who single-handedly pick the bills of our legal team that was led Kola Awodein, SAN''.

Continuing, the AC source said, ''there is no denying the fact that Atiku was Princewill's backbone from the very beginning. When Atiku's long time political associate, Sergeant Awuse went to complaint about his defeat in primaries by Princewill, the former vice-president stood stoutly by the Kalabari prince''.

Political watchers of the AC politics say the isue of Atiku and Tinubu has put the AC leadership in Rivers in a fix. Princewill, they say, will have to exhibit skills beyond what he has ben doing since 2007 in order to manoeuvre out of this current challenge.
The way things stand, it might be foolhardy for Princewill to follow Atiku to PDP considering the role the Asiwaju allegedly played in his political life at a time it mattered most.

Some anti-Tinubu elements are linking the former Lagos governor with an alleged failed move to expel Princewill from the party over his involvement in the PDP administration in Rivers.

Efforts to get Princewill for comment did not pay off as one of his aides who simply identified himself as Mustapha, told our correspondent yesterday at his Port Harcourt residence, ''oga is not in the country''.

Chief Eze C Eze, his media consultant, declined comments saying the matter is beyond him. ''I am too small to comment on the big boys politics'', he said.

Surprisingly, neither the state chairman of the party, Alexander Badey nor the state secretary Okis Bob Manuel, could confirm or deny the emerging gulf in the state branch of the party over Atiku and Tinubu.

ENDS

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