Tony Okocha, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has accused Rotimi Amaechi, the former governor of the state, of instructing his followers to vote against President Bola Tinubu during the 2023 elections.

According to Okocha, during the elections, Amaechi, a prominent figure in the party and a former Transport Minister, allegedly directed his supporters to vote against Tinubu.

The APC chairman in Rivers State elaborated on Amaechi’s alleged directive, claiming that the former governor’s actions were motivated by personal differences and a perceived arrogance that led him to oppose Tinubu.

He commented while responding to a question by The Nation if he had visited Amaechi since becoming the state party’s chairman.

His words: “My answer is an emphatic no, I have not done that. Both of us are Ikwerre, and even though we are not from the same village, our cultures are the same.

“Truth be told, our relationship has gone so sour even before he aspired to be the presidential candidate of the party. It was not because of money or interests in our lives but because, in his totalitarian attitude, the party became a social club.

“It was bad that the party didn’t even field candidates for elections, and where we managed to do, they wanted to withdraw. It is about weakness, not any other thing.

“I have told them that it is not going to be business as usual because the APC they saw yesterday is not the one under me that they are seeing today. We are going to participate in the election in all the wards. We will not only contest but contest to win.

“The soured relationship got to a crescendo during the presidential election because they felt that I should have supported my boss, having served as his Chief of Staff previously. But I was on the side of Asiwaju.

“His problem is that he has no time to listen to his followers because he is arrogant, nobody means anything to him, and he wants everything to be at his whims and caprices.

“Again, he announced to his followers to vote against Asiwaju. I did not bother to find out his status in the party because we have members of the caretaker committee who are from his camp. It is also completely wrong to claim that we are trying to shut his camp out.”