Some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have warned the Senator representing Rivers South-East in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, Magnus Abe, not to allow his unbridled ambition of flying the party’s flag as the governorship candidate in 2019 becloud his sense of reasoning and judgement.
The chieftains, who did not want their names in print, said they would be forced to come out publicly and “put Abe where he belongs” if he continues to indirectly, denigrate and abuse and attempt to undermine the leader of APC in the state, former governor and Transportation Minister, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
To them, if not because of the respect they have for Amaechi and Rivers State Chairman of the party, Chief Davies Ibiamu-Ikanya, they would have addressed a press conference to debunk the claim that there is crisis in the state chapter of the party and no one is stopping Abe from running for governor.
The chieftains said the only iota of truth in the rumour of a crisis was the inordinate ambition of Abe to be the party’s governorship candidate in the 2019 election by blackmailing Amaechi, the leader of the party to ‘anoint’ him as the party’s candidate.
Tracing the genesis of the controversy, one of them, who hails from Abe’s senatorial district, said he was privy to a discussion Abe had with Amaechi a few months ago “where he begged the minister to endorse him for the 2019 election as the governorship candidate but Hon. Amaechi told him that it is too early to start 2019 guber race and that any endorsement now would create crisis in the party”.
He said: “Without Hon. Amaechi, Abe is empty in Rivers politics. We even have this feeling that he is being used by Governor Nyesom Wike to try and destabilise our party. The question Abe should ask himself is: Where is Engr. Tele Renner Ikuru (Amaechi’s former deputy governor) today?
“If Abe is not careful, he is gradually moving into political oblivion with the type of game he is playing. How does he expect the minister to anoint him as the governorship candidate of the party for the 2019 election when there is a process for that? How does he want other aspirants to feel if they hear that Hon Amaechi has endorsed him?
“I am from the same senatorial district with Abe. He should be careful. The level of support he is enjoying today is due to the influence of Hon Amaechi. He should not think he is a super politician”.
Another elder said it was wrong for Abe to be using some of his supporters, indirectly, to be sponsoring destructive stories against Amaechi in the media.
He said: “Everybody should work for the party now, stabilise it and ensure that we shoot down the persistent lies of Governor Wike. You can see that some of the commissioners recently rose against Wike because he wanted to use them to be lying against Amaechi. That was why he sacked them yesterday (Saturday). So, this is the time to consolidate, not to be fighting Amaechi who is our leader.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no crisis in our party. I know that Abe tried to get Amaechi to endorse him for the 2019 election and the former governor refused because doing so will cause crisis in our party.
“Amaechi is an experienced politician. He was Speaker of the House of Assembly for eight years and governor for eight years. You don’t joke with somebody like that. Because Wike, one of the boys of Amaechi, knows that there is nothing he can use to pin his former boss, that is why he is lying endlessly against the minister. But, even his (Wike) former commissioners know that he is a liar. Now that there is confusion in enemy’s camp, this is the time to come out strongly and reposition the APC. Abe should allow reason to prevail. He doesn’t have the capacity to fight Amaechi at all.”
Another elder of the party said Abe should remember that Amaechi made him Minority Leader of the state Assembly, Information Commissioner, Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and now a Senator. “Or does he think without Amaechi, he would have won the last election which returned him to the Senate? I don’t know why some people are ungrateful. You can’t be playing the victim and portraying Amaechi in bad light as a dictator.
“In fact, the person who should feel aggrieved is Dr. Dakuku Peterside (Director-General of NIMASA). He won the 2015 election but was robbed of victory. With the good work he is doing in NIMASA now, he should be given a chance to contest again in 2019. If he hears that Amaechi has endorsed Abe, how will he feel?”.
He disclosed that some party leaders would meet Abe this week and tell him to stop “this campaign of calumny against Amaechi”.
To him, a recent attempt to attack and disrupt an APC youth meeting called by Amaechi at GRA, PortHarcourt by some elements linked to Abe “is not good enough for the senator’s image. If not because of the intervention of security agents and other youths, who chased the hoodlums away, only God knows what would have happened. If Abe has nothing to do with it, then he should come out and say so. You can’t just keep mute when your leader and benefactor was attacked by boys close to you, who are known to be your foot soldiers.”
“Abe is acting like the APC Guber ticket is his birth right. It’s not. He should calm down, let’s rebuild the party first, like Amaechi has directed.”
