APC CRISIS IN RIVERS: Finally, Abe calls for peace

The former Rivers State South-East senatorial district senator, Magnus Abe has said that he was unhappy with the unending crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his state.

He has, therefore, sued for peace, saying that should the party members in the state change from the old ways of doing things, and employ a different approach to resolving the problems in the party that there would be a positive result.

Rivers State crisis has often been blamed on the rift between Abe and a former Governor of the state and current Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi.

However, in a statement on Thursday through his spokesman, Parry Saroh Benson, Abe regretted the situation the APC in Rivers State has found itself despite all the sacrifices members have made to the success of the party over the years.

Abe was apparently responding to Senator Andrew Uchendu’s comments in the media recently, where Uchendu was quoted to have said himself and Abe should renounce their ambitions for the sake of the APC in the state.

But Abe said, “I believe that any sensible politician who understands politics and can see where the APC in Rivers State is today after all the sacrifices that members have made over the years, would be very unhappy and I am very, very unhappy.

“We need peace in the party and if we can change our language and stop talking the way we do, do things differently, we can have different results.

“I have been circumspect about my choice of words when talking about Rotimi Amaechi and have said it over and over again that he is the leader of the party. But, a leader must lead in such a manner that your supporters and followers can have confidence in the leadership. Leadership should not be designed to hurt anybody or group.

“As far as the party is concerned, we need to bring everybody together, even Senator Andrew Uchendu, if only he will behave like an elder. We cannot be chasing one another in the public. He was my colleague at the National Assembly.

“We sat together at the Senate and common decency demands that there are certain things we should not say about one another in the public. That decency he cannot respect.

“If we can change our behaviour, rearrange our ways, curtail the excesses of our supporters, the party will unite again as one indivisible group.”

Further speaking on the comment by Uchendu, Abe said: “I am ready to do whatever we need to do to bring the party together, but if the foundation of the peace is that Senator Abe should announce that he has no ambition, I will not make that announcement. In the same vein, I will not sit here to say whether I will contest or not, that question is for the future.

“People supported me for governorship because they could see that I was close to the fruit and if given a little push, I can catch it and they thronged behind me if tomorrow am not in a good position and somebody else is better positioned, I will support that person”.

Uchendu was said to have also said he witnessed during a meeting in Amaechi’s house, where Abe boasted he was the greatest investment of Rotimi Amaechi.

READ ALSO: Chest beating Mbaka says he has 39 other prophecies for 2020

Responding to that, Abe explained that the statement was made at the “heat of the crisis”. He added, “It was at a rally in my village. The pictures are there. What I had on paper was that Amaechi is our biggest investment in politics in Nigeria but when it came to the time to say it, I decided not to say it that way because I was looking for peace.

“I felt that, If I say it that way, I felt it was too challenging and contentious to the man who was my governor and boss, so I switched it around because I wanted to appeal to his sense of humanity that you cannot build a house and destroy it.

“So I said, listen, I am your biggest investment, in order words, don’t destroy what you have built. We supported Amaechi. We have helped one another and we are all friends.

“The origin of this whole problem was the disobedience to court orders that brought the face-off between Rivers APC and the Nigerian judiciary. It has nothing to do with a third party. It has to do with the behaviour of the people in the party,” he said.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now