Rivers Governorship hopeful, Sen. Magnus Abe has reacted to the crises at the party’s Secretariat in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Abe, in a statement today, condemned what he described as the “brutal and unwarranted attack against members of the party.”
His statement reads,
My attention was drawn once again to the brutality and violence perpetrated against members of the All PROGGRESIVES Congress in Rivers state. I condemn the brutal and unwarranted attack in its entirety.
Nigerians will recollect that in March 2017 the fomer minister of transportation and the leader of the APC in Rivers State Rt Honourable Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi at a meeting held at the Dome in Trans Amadi Portharcourt, declared that all those who chose to support Senator Magnus Abe are no longer members of the All Progressives Congress.
From that fateful day, members of the party including myself seen as not loyal to former Minister Rotimi Amaechi have been excluded from every activity of the APC in Rivers State organized by those seen as loyal to the minister, effectively factionalizing the party in the state.
This unalterable position of the minister and his group that other members of the APC are not members of the party and he will not talk to or compromise with them in any way or manner is the root, origin, cause and reason for the so called RIVERS APC CRISIS.
The insistence of right thinking members that this attitude is unreasonable and ultra vires the constitution of our party, and that it goes against the moral foundation of the APC in Rivers state which was built on the protests, suffering and blood of this same members is the reason the crisis and division in the party appears immutable.
The so called Wàrd congress in Rivers state was a sham, the new delegate forms released by the National secretariat through the committee and the state structures of the party were not given to those perceived as not loyal to the minister, the so called stakeholders meeting of the APC did not include those perceived as not loyal to the minister.
The attempt by members of the party to protest their continued unjust exclusion from the party was met with brutality and force.
Several people were seriously injured including women.The exercise was a sham and did not hold in the prescribed manner in most wards in Rivers State, neither will it yield any meaningful result, once again these actions have laying the foundation for failure for our party.
It is most unfortunate that the same security forces that chased APC members in Rivers state under the PDP administration are now being used to brutatilize members of our party under our own Government,, What an irony!!!
Since yesterday I have been inundated by calls, text messages and demands from frustrated,and exhausted members of our party that we withdraw from the APC and go to any other platform to test our electoral strength.
I say to you now, I feel your pain, I share your wounds but the APC is our home, we built it, we will not be chased out of our father’s house that easily.This struggle is a quest to enthrone justice in our land and in our time.
Our struggle is not just about the Governorship of Rivers state, it is also about justice in our land, we will not relent and we shall not give up until victory is at hand.
Therefore I will contest for the Governorship of Rivers state on the platform of the All PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS, in a fair, just, and transparent process.if such a process within our party produces another member of our party as its candidate I will support and campaign for that candidate.
If a sham process produces a sham candidate I will not accept that result.
I appeal to all aspirants in our party for all elective positions to present themselves for screening before any legitimate committee of the party if they are allowed to do so and await the decision of the party on the way forward.
We have kept faith with our God let us not be weary, for the God of justice will surely speak and every other voice shall then be silent.
