Delegates’ conference: Senator Abe commends APC members for resisting ‘impunity’

Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, representing Rivers South East Senatorial District and a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has commended members of the party in Rivers State for resisting attempts by the leadership of the party in the state to shut out every member that has sympathy for him at weekend’s Local Government Non-elective Delegates Congress.

Briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt on his reaction to the congress, Senator Abe said that it was obvious to everybody that the leadership of the party in the state allegedly designed the congress to shut out his supporters.

He said: “Even a child knows that yesterday’s local government non-elective congress in the state was designed by the leadership for one reason and one reason only, to prove that those with Senator Abe have been shut out of the party and will have no space in the affairs of the party.”

He further said that by resisting the act of alleged impunity by the leadership of the party, meant that the party would grow to take over the state.

Abe commended the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command for his intervention, pointing out that this was necessary, considering the fragile nature of the state and hoped that the party leadership would reciprocate this by ensuring that the grievances of party members were resolved amicably.

The Senator said: “Out of respect for our party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State, we accepted the commitments of party stakeholders and the Commissioner of Police, in the hope and belief that these actions will bring stability to the APC and will help to restore the confidence of all members of the party.”

Senator Abe, therefore, said that APC members were looking forward to how far those commitments would be implemented by the national leadership. “We are still waiting to see how far those commitments would be implemented,” he said.

Reacting to questions from journalists, Abe said that he would never leave APC, pointing out that the party had in-built mechanism to redress injustice, adding that it was because of the impunity and injustice of PDP that led to the formation of APC, which has zero tolerance to imposition of candidates on the party.

“I am not leaving APC. No amount of intimidation will make me to leave the party. I am in it. I was with the PDP. We left the PDP because in the PDP even when something is going wrong and you shout, nothing is done about it, but that is not the case in this party (APC). I have been in this party. I am one of those who struggled and fought to establish the party in Rivers State.

“I was the Secretary of the panel that conducted the primaries in Kogi State. I know what we did. I saw what happened in Edo. So, APC is not PDP. If I leave this kind of party to a party where I know if they are doing wrong and I shout from today to tomorrow, nobody will answer me, what am I going to do there in such a party? But APC, by its very nature, the way it was formed, by the commitment it has made to Nigerians, cannot allow certain things to happen.”

He expressed happiness to APC members’ resolve not to allow such impunity ever happen again, saying: “I sincerely appreciate all those who came out and defied not only nature but even the instruments of oppression to make a point that this party can no longer be a home of impunity.”