Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have disagreed over the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to list a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, as the party’s candidate for the 2027 governorship election in the state.

Speaking in Port Harcourt yesterday, an APC chieftain, Chief Oby Ndukwe, said it is obvious that the ruling party does not want to lose the state, considering that the state is the fifth highest in terms of voting strength.

“The truth is that even the APC itself knows that it cannot lose Rivers State. Rivers State is vital to the APC, particularly when it comes to the fact that Rivers State is the fifth highest in terms of voting strength. So, why would you think the

“Rainbow Coalition does not mean that people are doing things that are illegal or illegitimate. It means that people are coming together irrespective of political lines to support candidates.

“There are candidates, under the Rainbow Coalition, who are of the APC, there are those who are of the PDP and there are those who are of the Labour Party. There are some that you may not know,” she said.

Also speaking, a former member of the House of Representatives and a chieftain of the Rainbow Coalition, Hon. Ogbonna Nwuke, said with the release of the list of qualified candidates by INEC, it is a clear indication that Rivers people are ready to vote for candidates of their choice.

“I think INEC has fulfilled one of its responsibilities as we approach the forthcoming election. In respect of Rivers State, where it released the list of candidates for the election, it just made it clear that Rivers people are now ready to choose from the list of candidates that they have.

“Also, all these candidates may or may not have been campaigning vigorously. Now that their names are out, they will be able to hit the ground and explain their mission to the people, the voters,” Nwuke said.

However, the spokesman of the Chief Emeka Beke-led faction of the APC, Comrade Darlington Nwauju, said based on the recent judgement of the Court of Appeal, the party does not recognise Chinda as the party’s governorship candidate.

Nwauju said: “First, let me remind you that the hirelings who have always come as wolves to shred Rivers APC are not different from those that operated with the full support of then Governor Wike to ensure there was no APC on the ballot in 2019.

“Their hypocrisy and inconsistency is already well advertised before Rivers people and we are only saying that consistently we have chosen the path of the rule of law to make our own arguments.

“Having not succeeded in upturning the judgement of Justice Godswill Obomanu through Appeal No. CA/PH/523/2024, these political hustlers continued to impersonate the lawfully recognised executives of the APC in Rivers.

“It is not therefore in our character to trumpet what steps to take in the case of Kingsley Chinda with regard to INEC recognising him as a candidate. Whenever the state executives under Chief Emeka Beke meet to review activities, a proper response will be out there.”