• APC slams Morka over statement on party leadership
The proposed Rivers State August 30, 2025, local council elections took a new twist on Saturday as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People Democratic Party (PDP) aligned during the parties’ chairmanship primaries and produced consensus candidates in each of the councils.

Candidates from both parties were mostly former local council chairmen and loyalists of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, whose controversial tenure elongation by the State House of Assembly, led by Martins Amaehule, further heated the political crisis in the state.

However, some factional PDP and APC members have kicked against the process and vowed to boycott the election, saying it is an exercise in futility.

The spokesman of Emeka Bekee-led APC, Darlington Nwauju, insisted that the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas, has no constitutional right to constitute an electoral body, stating that only a democratically elected governor has the authority to constitute such a board. He said until the right thing is done, the primaries are a joke and a waste of state resources.

But justifying the coalition of PDP and APC at the primaries, former ObioAkpor Local Council Chairman, George Ariolu, said it is a normal thing for political families to agree on a consensus.

He said: ” It is a normal thing to agree on a consensus candidate, and it is enshrined in the Constitution. It is a matter of understanding that almost all the parties have such an understanding in their constitutions. The consensus is to tame acrimony and bitterness. When you have consensus as a family, it brings peace and understanding within the political circle. It is not just us; others do it to avoid political bickering.”

He confirmed that both APC and PDP agreed on the candidates.

He said, “Both PDP and APC came together and agreed on a candidate. Our leader, the Minister of FCT, is a PDP member, but he works with President Bola Tinubu of the APC. So, we have a political understanding and love among ourselves. He (Wike) has found love and favour before the President, so the political harmony is important.”

Meanwhile, several reactions have continued to trail the primaries and the proposed August 30 elections. The Rivers State Branch of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has threatened to take all necessary legal and democratic steps to halt the planned local council polls.

MEANWHILE, the Rivers APC has criticised its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, over a recent statement regarding the party’s leadership crisis in the state.

In a statement signed by the party’s spokesperson, Darlington Nwauju, the Rivers APC accused Morka of taking an “escapist route” by failing to address the fundamental question of who the courts have validated as the Chairman of the APC in the state.

The party highlighted Morka’s alleged delayed response to the daylight bombing of the APC’s governorship campaign event in Rumuwoji, Port Harcourt, in 2023, noting that the 72-hour delay in issuing a statement condemning the attack raises questions about Morka’s priorities and whose interests he is serving.