No Plans to Dump APC, Says Abe

Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt

A senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe, has said he has no plans to dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) contrary to reports in the media.

Abe, elected as the governorship candidate through direct primaries by a faction of the party in Rivers State, has been said to be on the verge of leaving the party after the decision of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) submitted the name of Tonye Cole to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the state’s as gubernatorial candidate.

But in a statement issued by his spokesman, Parry Benson yesterday, Abe said remained the preferred governorship candidate of the party in Rivers State, noting that he had no plan to dump the APC for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He described the report as unfounded and a pedestrian move to derail the conversation about the preferred choice of the Senator as the governorship candidate of the APC in Rivers State.

“We know that such calculated misinformation in the public domain is coming from the usual quarters to confuse Senator Abe’s supporters who have remained firm, resolute and insisted on justice, equity, and fair play in Rivers APC,” the statement said.

Abe said, “I am the frontline choice of Rivers APC for 2019 elections that is why so much efforts, resources and energy have been expended on a futile mission to obliterate that reality.

“This sponsored campaign of hate and calumny is part of that effort and like every pack of lies, it will collapse in the fullness of time. The recent report that I, Senator Magnus Abe has dumped the APC for the PDP is another of such endless and wicked campaign against me. I remain a member of the APC. I remain committed to the party and to President Muhammadu Buhari.

“I have been in politics long enough to know that a smear campaign is one of the tools you deploy when your case is weak, so from the intensity of the smear campaign discerning political watchers, I know that no real case can be made against me.

“How can I leave my father’s house and deny my inheritance. We built the house with our tears, our sweat, and our blood. We will stay in our father’s house and fight for justice”.

Apparently referring to Cole, he said, “No stranger can chase me out of my home. Desperation leads to fake news. Ignore them and focus on the God of justice. Hold your peace and be still, for the God of justice will speak and every other voice shall be silent.

“Just as I have said severally, let me re-emphasise that, I bought form for governor on the platform of APC in Rivers State and I am running for the office of Governor.