APC Lacks Capacity To Win Election In Rivers – Abe

 

Sen. Abe Denies Being Author Of Resignation Letter Informing APC National Chairman Adamu Of His Resignation.

– Acknowledges Speculation On Leaving Party,

…..Says APC Lacks Capacity To Win Elections In Rivers State. 

Senator Magnus Abe, former representative of the Rivers South-East senatorial district at the National Assembly has denied being the author of a resignation letter purportedly written by him to the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress, informing the party of his resignation.

The lawmaker who has seen himself lucked in a battle for the control of the party in Rivers State with his erstwhile political ally and former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, announced through his verified Facebook account on Wednesday, that he was not the author of the letter which has gone viral on different social media platforms.

Sen. Abe however acknowledged the wide speculation that he was about to leave the APC saying that he had to leave the party because it lacked the capacity to win elections in Rivers State.

“I didn’t author the purported resignation letter in circulation but everybody knows I had long left the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State. The party does not have what it takes to win elections in the state,” he stated on the Facebook post.

Abe’s leaving the APC was only a matter of course and time as he had reiterated severally that he was going to be on the ballot paper for the election of the governor of Rivers State in 2023 even as he boycotted the Rivers APC Governorship primaries.

Also several other of his supporters in the party had recently resigned from the party, thereby pointing to the fact that he would also follow suit as he has been rumoured to be gearing up to join the Social Democratic Party SDP and run as the governorship candidate of the party a report by Tribune Revealed. 

Meanwhile, the Rivers State chapter of the APC has reacted to the gale of resignations of some prominent members of the party saying that movements of politicians in and out of political parties in Nigeria have become part of the political culture of politicians, especially towards the end of every election cycle and noting that it was not peculiar to APC but cuts across all political parties.

In a press conference Wednesday, Chris Finebone, state publicity secretary of APC, divided into two categories of members of the party who had left, one being made up of those who resigned to pursue other interests in life or exercised their right of free association by seeking greener political pastures elsewhere.

The second group according to him are “a few persons that are loyal to Senator Magnus Abe who also resigned recently”.

Finebone said the party acknowledged the contributions of some of the person’s in the first category and wished them well in their future endeavours.

Of the second, he said: “These are individuals who have, for the past couple of years, spoken and acted in every way to destroy the APC in Rivers State. Led by Abe, these persons tried all they could to factionalize our party in the state. They connived endlessly with the governor of Rivers State and used some elements in the state judiciary to frustrate and destroy our party through needless litigations. The culmination of their evil machinations was the exclusion of Rivers APC from the ballot in 2019. Evidence exists of how Senator Abe and his lieutenants broke into celebration the day the Party was excluded by the court from participating in that election due to their litigation.

“After the 2019 unfortunate development, Abe continued to receive support from outside the state and persisted in undermining Rivers APC through every imaginable means principally through frivolous litigation executed through his proxies. At a time, they attacked and completely destroyed the then Rivers APC Secretariat at Forces Avenue, Old GRA, Port Harcourt. Recently, they also hired hoodlums and attempted to destroy the present Secretariat of the Party.

“Tired of Abe’s antics, the majority of his supporters openly joined the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while others found their way back to the mainstream of the party. However, it recently came to our attention that Senator Abe and the few persons still with him had concluded plans to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on whose platform Abe will run for governor, hence their persistent hype to the effect that Abe will be on the ballot come 2023.

“In what appears to be a carefully planned exit plan, close associates of Abe started resigning from the APC and making heavy weather of their exit on the social media as part of their exit plan as though they have been functional members of the party, just to hoodwink the public.

“This press conference is essential to explain to you and the public that Rivers APC considers the formal exit of Abe and his associates from the APC as good riddance. We liken it to a successful excision of debilitating cancer from the body. Rivers APC can now heave a sigh of relief from the sustained destabilizing onslaught by Senator Abe.

“We make bold to state without an iota of doubt that Senator Abe and his supporters had, by their actions and utterances, long ceased to be functional members of APC. They shunned and refused to participate in the Membership Revalidation exercise that was carried out nationwide by the party. They also abstained from other legitimate activities of the party, making their recent purported resignation a mere formality and part of their face-saving exit strategy aimed at deceiving the public.

“We appreciate your understanding that there is no blanket exit or exodus of well-meaning members of Rivers APC. We believe that you and the public would appreciate that our party is, by far, better off without Abe and his motley supporters.”