The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Mr Maurice Pronen, has condemned the antics of some political blackmailers, led by one Mr Suage Badey, aimed at discrediting some candidates of the party ahead of the 2011 elections.

Mr Pronen, who was speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday said, it was disheartening for the blackmailers, most of whom were from rival political parties, to attempt to run down PDP hopefuls purely for their personal gains.

“It is not proper for Mr Badey to commence a campaign of calumny against Hon. Magnus Abe, our senatorial aspirant, simply because Abe turned down his overtures to sponsor him to create disaffection in the ranks of the Action Congress”, he said.

Mr Pronen said such blackmail exhibited by people like Mr Suage Badey shows that such characters are up for sale to the highest bidder, adding, “unfortunately, we have left such people behind who still belong to the past”.

He advised Mr Badey and his cohorts to raise objective opposition against any candidate of the PDP from the area, if they have anything against their credibility, insisting that “pursuing base personal motives in the name of opposition was selfish and self-serving”.

“Indeed, we must state that Hon Magnus Abe’s refusal to meddle into the internal affairs of the Action Congress, by sponsoring Mr Suage Badey to perpetrate himself, is a credible attitude which is highly commendable”, he said, while calling on the people of Rivers State to ignore him.

Mr Pronen, who said that the leadership of the PDP in Gokana Local Government Area, would not succumb to any form of blackmail masterminded by Mr Badey and his cohorts, insisted that Hon. Magnus Ngei Abe has one of the most impeccable credentials for leadership in the state, and he would be a good sell anytime, any day.