RIVERS ACN CRISIS DEEPENS

I’m still chairman says Badey.

                                                By Chris Daniels.

Asari Dokubo

The political crisis rocking the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN Rivers State chapter appears far from being over. There have been claims and counter claims as regards the leadership of the party with all factions claiming legitimacy as regards its leadership.

At the party’s mini convention in Lagos a fight broke out between loyalist of the current leader of the party in the state Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari and that of the acting chairman Suwage Badey.

The fracas which resulted in the hospitalization of Badey following injuries sustained from the beating by Asari’s loyalists has been one of the many troubles the party has been facing since the exit of its former leader Tonye Princewill.

Badey and his delegates to the national convention were supposedly attacked on the basis that they had no grounds to be at the summit.

It would be recalled that a while ago, a faction of the party announced the dissolution of the executive committee led by Suwage Badey and inaugurated a transitional committee, chaired by Uche Okokwu.

But Badey in an interview with wezinareports stated that in spite of the threats by Asari and his cohorts he remains the chairman of the party.

“ I still remain the chairman of the ACN in Rivers State, am a man that does not give in to threats and all that, if Asari is committed to the party he should follow laid down provisions of what binds the party, rather than engage loyal party members in fisticuffs and try to drag the name of the party to mud” .

On the inauguration of a nine man transitional committee headed by Barrister Uche Okokwu, the embattled chairman said the committee is illegal and not recognized by the party at the national level.

“Asari and a few of his cronies just sat here in Rivers state in one room and constituted a new body which they called a transitional committee without members of the Exco in the state nor any other chapter being aware. So how was it implemented?

“It was neither ratified by the zone or at the national level. Another issue is that of  Uche Okokwu the so called Chairman of the transitional committee. Is he a member of the ACN? No he is not. And he has never been a member. He is known to be a member of the ANPP and at some point the personal lawyer to Asari Dokubo and Celestine Omehia. So the committee does not have any legitimacy at all”.

The embattled party boss thanks his kinsmen who had issued warnings to Asari on threat to his life but insists that he is not bothered by death threats. “ I was warned at the convention grounds that I will not live to see the 2011 elections but I am not bothered about death threats and Asari should know such threats could lead to ethnic rivalry. I would however not encourage any of my kinsmen to engage in violence.”

Badey further hints that Rivers ACN has began a process of disengagement from the unity government of Governor Chibuike Amaechi.