Internal democracy, not impunity will end squabbles in APC – Abe
Amaka Agbu, Port Harcourt
The Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Magnus Abe, has declared that respect for internal democracy rather than impunity would end the raging squabbles in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state.
Abe, who made the declaration when he appeared on a live radio programme monitored in Port Harcourt, also declared that he would continue to champion the cause for the enthronement of internal democracy within the ranks of the ruling APC even as he pledged his unalloyed commitment to the party.
The senator maintained that his resolve was anchored on the fact that he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because of impunity and high-handedness and would not allow the same character to permeate the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said that “you know this was the same struggle that took us out of the PDP; it was the same struggle for internal democracy and for the respect of human rights. Respect for the citizens, respect for constitution, respect for due process rather than impunity.
“That’s what made us to leave the PDP and that’s why we’re in APC. So if we made all that effort, all that sacrifice and then we get this far and we abandon this struggle, what was it about?
“So I believe that, it is not only justified, it is necessary today, it will be necessary tomorrow and as long as there are human societies, the fight to make the world better and make it function better for everybody will continue, non-stop.”
Sen. Abe stated that if a party was to win, everybody in the party needs to be part of that victory, adding that when one didn’t follow a process that accommodates everybody, then that was not a victory for everybody because “a victory for one person or a victory for few people cannot be considered a victory for the party.
“The victory for the party is when all members of the party are enthusiastically included in what the party is doing.
When all members of the party feel a sense of victory when the party wins; if you initiate a process in the party that exclude party members and then you claim victory at the end of the day, how are they going to be excited by that victory?
How are they included in it? How are they allowed to contribute to it?
“You know, when we talk of the supremacy of the party, we’re not talking about the supremacy of any individual in the party. It’s not the supremacy of the party chairman; it’s not the supremacy of the party leader.
It’s the supremacy of the party constitution; it’s the supremacy of the understanding that brought everybody together because people left their houses and are making sacrifices in pursuit of a dream.
“So you don’t kill their own dreams and then say that the party has won. How will the party win without people?” he asked.
Speaking further, the senator said that “I am a committed member of the APC and I came into this party because I believe that a better Nigeria is possible and this party is committed to the idea of building a better Nigeria.”
