The Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Magnus Abe, has said that the current crises rocking the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Rivers State will strengthen the party and boost its chances of emerging victorious in the February and March general election.
This is as he advised stakeholders to maintain unity of the party, rather than taking the issues personal.
Abe, who spoke on a National Television programme on Thursday monitored in Port Harcourt, stated that the APC will come out stronger if the right things are done.
He explained that one of the issues that have brought the party to its knees is the process of not producing a candidate that is acceptable to the law, saying he does not have issues with whoever emerges as long as the right thing is done.
Abe said: “First of all, the issue of whoever emerges as the candidate of the party, I totally subscribe to that. But what is the process by which the candidate would emerge? That is the issue. So, when you use a process that cannot produce a candidate that is acceptable to the law.
“The APC is made up of human beings. People put their lives on the line to create the thing you call the APC in Rivers State and those people are alive. They are there in the state.
“So, if they fight for what they believe in, I do not think that will weaken the party. I think at the end of the day, the APC will come out stronger if we are able to do the right thing.
“People will have more confidence in the ability of the party to deliver on its core commitment to Rivers people because they are also watching what we are doing. So, if we overcome this struggle internally, I believe that the party will actually be stronger.
“At the core of the challenges facing Rivers APC is that people actually want alternatives that they know will work.
“So, we must be able to convince them from within the party that the alternative that we are offering Rivers people is one that will actually work and bring something different from what they are used to seeing at the moment.
“Another thing is that the legal foundation on which the Tonye Cole candidacy is based, both moral and legal is very faulty. If leaders of the party decide to be quiet and ignore such a trend, it may lead to the party being completely shortchanged.
“So, people must be able to speak up and be able to stand for what will help the APC in Rivers State. People have put in so much. People have suffered so much in the state for us to leave them with no options.
“So, I believe that at the end of the day, the party will emerge stronger.
“Whether it is myself or Tonye Cole or whoever, it will get to a point where we see clearly that this is where we stand, then all of us must be able to come together and put aside our pride and our differences and help the APC to survive in a manner that will help party members in the state,” Abe explained.
Abe, who is the Chairman, Senate committee on FERMA, insisted that lack of internal democracy in the party made Dumo Lulu Briggs dump the APC for Accord Party.
“If the process was free, fair and credible, how come people who participated in the process when it started didn’t accept it?
“When you conduct indirect primaries in a situation where you are in court and the court has already made orders against what you are about to do, does it need a seer to foresee that the thing will have a problem in the future.
“If party members who see that, decide to act in the interest of the party to save it from a problem, how come it is ascribed to one person?
“People bought forms and participated in a party process, they were screened by the National Headquarters and emerged from a process that was organised by the party? Why deny them their rights?”
