Fubara’s sins can’t be forgiven, even if he joins us – APC Rivers Chairman

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tony Okocha, has declared that the embattled Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, will not escape justice even if he decides to join the ruling party.

Okocha made this known on Tuesday while addressing journalists at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.

Okocha insisted that the offences committed by Governor Fubara were not political but offences against the people of Rivers State, as highlighted by the Supreme Court judgment.

He stated clearly that defection to the APC would not shield the suspended governor from facing the full weight of the law.

“If Fubara decides to join APC today, his sins cannot be forgiven because his suspension has nothing to do with politics,” Okocha stressed.

“You will jump into the APC today, and your sins are forgiven? That can’t be true. It won’t work that way.”

“Then, it would have made the APC a dumping ground for people who commit misdemeanours and believe that by and large, we will come for reconciliation. No.”

Speaking further, the APC Chairman dismissed reports of any ongoing reconciliation in Rivers State following the presidential directive for peace.

According to him, Governor Fubara has made no moves to reconcile with lawmakers or political stakeholders, which he believes is the only path to peace in the state.

“There is no reconciliation ongoing, not to my knowledge, I should know because I am the Chairman of the Rivers APC,” he said.

“I have spoken with all the strata of society in the state, but none has agreed that the bygone should be bygone.”

On Fubara’s meetings with President Bola Tinubu, Okocha maintained that the Rivers APC was unbothered by the interactions. He explained that if the governor truly wishes to join the party, he must follow due process by starting from his ward level.

“APC is not a dumping ground. He must follow the procedures before he can be admitted. He cannot come through the window; he must come through the door,” Okocha affirmed.

He also clarified that the governor’s suspension and the declaration of a state of emergency in the state were matters of governance failure, not politics.

Okocha emphasised that the president’s intervention and the National Assembly’s ratification were necessary measures to stabilise the situation in Rivers State.