The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been knocked for turning a blind eye on the several infractions and anti-party activities committed against the party by the outgoing Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe.
A critical stakeholder in the Rivers state chapter of the APC, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who gave the charge to the party in a statement issued and circulated to the media in Port Harcourt on Thursday, also charged the party to ensure that Senator Abe’s anti-party activities as well as misconducts prior to last elections are thoroughly investigated and fully penalised.
Eze’s call came as follow up on recent inauguration by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), of a special 5-man committee, charged with the task of investigating members of the party who were involved in activities that jeopardised the chances of the party in the last elections in the various states across the country.
The party chieftain and erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party nPDP pointed out that the misdeeds and deliberate working towards denying the APC in Rivers state by the Senator who represented Rivers South-East in the Senate, Senator Abe, was more than could be passed as a mere disagreement, adding that the outgoing Senator, who was allegedly working with adversaries of the party, both internally and externally, was targeting to deliberately weaken the party so that his allies in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) could have an easy ride in the State.
He, however, maintained that the activities of Abe, as well as his cohorts within the party in Rivers state should be properly investigated and subsequently punished, noting that the inability of the party to field candidates in the state for any position was as a result of the deliberate antagonist posture of the former Senator and his lieutenants.
“Abe, whose plot was to decimate APC in Rivers state and to ensure that the party’s plans for the state did not see the light of the day, while making adequate arrangement for his followers to join and benefit from the PDP government in the state, is no longer news. For instance, Senator Barry Mpigi, who is now representing the Eastern Senatorial District in the 9th National Assembly, hatched this devious plot with Abe and had now joined PDP and benefitted as the Senator replacing Abe in the Senate.
“Apart from Senator Mpigi, Abe’s key members; forrmer Federal Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission (Hon. Stephen Ezekwem), alongside former Deputy Leader, Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Dr. Nname Robinson Ewor; and a former commissioner in the state civil service commission, Chief Allen Mbadiwe Ewoh, all allies of Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, have defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)”, he said.
He further highlighted that over 3,000 APC members in the state, who are said to be loyal to Abe had on May 29, 2019, formally joined PDP, saying “these were party faithfuls that flanked Senator Magnus Abe when he declared his intention to contest the Rivers state governorship election in Port Harcourt.
“What is confusing is what is Abe waiting before joining his group in the PDP after achieving his sinister plot to decimate and ensure that APC doesn’t field candidates in the 2019 general elections? According to those very close to him, he is waiting to be appointed a Minister by those that used him to put the Rivers State Chapter of our great party in its present sorry and quagmire state.
“Abe has not ceased to drop the names of Prof. Osibinajo, the Vice President, Senator Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the party, Comrade Adams Oshimhole, the National Chairman of the party and other great leaders of our party in his dream for a key appointment in the next cabinet of President Buhari, using these names to deceive his innocent followers while positioning them for key appointments in the Wike’s administration.
“We are not deceived and the party must take the relevant steps to sanction this man who have frustrated every move to bring unity and peace to the State Chapter of APC before he ensures that APC becomes a mushroom political party in the entire South-South region”, he said.
He recalled that the NWC had after due consideration suspended and recommended for expulsion two former governors for alleged anti-party activities, saying “the NWC, presided over by the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, suspended the Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, and his Ogun state counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and also issued a query to the Ondo state governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu.
“The party, in the same vein, once stated that the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, and the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, had been suspended for anti-party activities.
“Senator Magnus Abe has not only demonstrated his hatred for Amaechi, but achieved his sinister plot to destroy and annihilate the party structure in Rivers state. I don’t need to go in details as all his acts and feats in his single motive of destroying the party are in the public domain for any who has not been following his antecedents in this regard”, he said.
However, while commending the NWC for all its far-reaching and positive steps to restore sanity to the party, the chieftain wondered how Senator Abe, who had supposedly committed worse infractions than any of the earlier sanctioned alleged culprits, could have been ignored by the leadership of the party and allow him to act in such a way as he had, to the detriment of both the party and the nation’s fledgling democracy.
“This is a man who has stood against all the efforts of the NWC to restore unity and progress in the state chapter of the party, until he was allowed to accomplish his mission of ensuring that the party doesn’t field any candidate in the last general elections in the country.
“The acts of the NWC indicates that we have two separate laws guiding the party and such an act where Abe continues to align with Governor Wike and other PDP strategists to undermine and weaken the party in Rivers state is no longer acceptable and necessary actions should be taken before this man finally annihilates the party in the state.
“For the records and clarification purposes, against the constitution of the party, Abe and his cohorts formed a parallel secretariat and State Working Committee. Even when the NWC directed that Rivers state should elect its elective representatives through indirect congress, he defied such a directive and embarked upon direct congress to elect himself as a gubernatorial candidate against the official candidate of the party.
“Against the party’s constitution that members should explore the party’s constitution before going to court, he defied the party and sued the party and in connvinance with PDP, the courts refused APC to field candidates for the elections, becoming the only state chapter in Nigeria that was denied an opportunity to participate in these elections, apart from the right to vote.
“Abe, by his actions, has deprived the best of the leaders ever produced by Rivers state from contributing to the new Rivers state that the APC had envisaged. For the party and for the NWC to turn the blind eye on the atrocities committed against the party by Abe is to state to us that all our sacrifices and inputs towards building APC is in vain”, Eze said.
