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Amaechi, Abe Renew Rivalry As Rivers APC Gears For Congress

The main opposition political party in Rivers State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) may be in for another round of crisis as the immediate past Senator who represented Rivers South East District, Senator Magnus Abe, has condemned the call by Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on the party members to prepare for elective congresses, describing the move as unacceptable.
Amaechi had shortly after being assigned portfolio as minister of transportation by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on August 21, said there would be party congress to elect leaders in Rivers State.
But in a swift reaction, Abe, in a statement on his behalf by his spokesman, Parry Benson, said the minister made the announcement without minding the extant judicial pronouncements on the subject matter and the need for consultation as it affects the interest of party members.
The statement said that Abe, who spoke during a courtesy visit on him by the Rivers APC Visionary Media Team in Port Harcourt, noted that Amaechi rather than concentrate on achieving the needed contribution to national development was creating another avenue for tension and crisis in the political structure of the party.
Both Amaechi and Abe lead two factions of the APC in the state.
He accused the minister of demonstrating the same behaviour that brought the party in Rivers State to its knees before the 2019 general election; just as he queried Amaechi for making such provocative announcement when he was not the national chairman of the party.
While urging Amaechi to think of rebuilding the party by admitting his faults and respecting the rights and feelings of party members in the state, Abe said that the minister’s attitude had led the party to where it is today in the state.
The senator, however, appealed to his supporters to be resolute and more committed to the growth of the APC in the state, and assured the group that though he is out of office, he is still a politician that is committed to the ideologies of the party.
Abe further said: “Look at our party here today in Rivers State, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on assumption of office, the first thing he did was to announce congress in Rivers State, and I ask myself, this was the same kind of behaviour that led the party to where it is.
“Everybody in Nigeria knows that the origin of the crisis in Rivers APC was from the congress and how the congress was handled, and there are Judicial pronouncements on the congress which you ignored, and led the party to ignore, and we have all kept quiet in the hope that by keeping quiet, we will create room for resolution of some of these challenges so that the party can move forward.
“Instead, you become crazier, in your challenge to the rights, feelings and interests of others within the same political party. How do we do that, and expect to make progress?
“What kind of congress? Is he the chairman of the party? Is he the National Working Committee (NWC)? Is he the court? What gives him the power to come and announce congress on the day he was inaugurated as minister?
“Rather than address the issues of the country and the issues of your ministry, the first thing you could do is to reopen sour points in the heart of members of the party. And it is on that basis that party members have been deprived of every benefit. Is that how to grow a political family? Is that how to grow politics? We will not accept that congress!
Earlier, Director General of Rivers APC Visionary Media Team, Robertson Jack, had said the visit was to pledge their support to his (Abe’s) peaceful disposition in the pursuit of internal democracy, inclusiveness, justice and equity in Rivers APC, and assured that the group would do all it takes to ensure that the party succeeds in the state.
Dennis Naku
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