Sen Abe to Tonye Cole: Stop abusing judiciary

…Says,  APC needs to look inwards…

BY Amaka Agbu, Port Harcourt

The Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Magnus Ngei Abe, has advised “ousted” gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, Ambassador Tonye Cole, to stop raining abuses on the Judiciary and Nigerian Judges over the unfortunate situation the party in the state found itself.

In a statement signed by Senator Abe’s spokesman, Mr. Parry Sarroh Benson, Abe said instead of appreciating thousands of Nigerians that came out to vote for President Buhari and condemn the needless violence that characterized the elections in some parts of the state, Ambassador Cole allegedly came out to abuse the Nigerian judiciary and ascribe every vote received by the APC to his and that of the Minister of Transportation.

The Senator reminded Cole “that it is a known fact that elections did not take place in his (Cole) Local Government Area and that of the Minister of Transportation.

 He said: “I and other leaders of the APC gathered our scarce private resources to mobilize party members in all twenty-three Local Government Areas of Rivers State, and APC members responded by coming out in their thousands to vote for Mr. President.

“No one should denigrate the contributions of others, this was not NDDC, NIMASA, NPA, Railway or Presidential Campaign Council funds, this was money contributed by APC leaders out of love for Mr. President and his contributions to Rivers people,” he stated.

He contined: “Mr. Cole and his co-travelers have no right to lay claim to every vote as that of their efforts and of Amaechi alone. He should acknowledge the contributions of other leaders. Whatever the motive of his press conference he should try to achieve it without running down the contributions of other leaders.”

The senator stated that it was a nationally known fact that more people including Lulu Briggs defected from the Minister’s faction of the APC, adding that name-calling and trying to blackmail other leaders would not solve the challenges facing the party in Rivers State.

“Rather humility and genuine introspection that acknowledge that mistakes were made will help us to heal and move forward,” he stated.

 Senator Abe, however, advised Cole and Amaechi to look inwards for the real reason the party was in the quagmire  it has found itself, after all, the judges were in their courtrooms when the APC leadership allegedly took the decision to exclude members from party congresses.collect over 18 million naira from party members, deny them their constitutional rights as party members, publicly disobey the courts, physically attack the judiciary, and proceed in wanton and open display of contempt to use delegates that had been twice voided  to elect Mr. Cole.

“Mr. Cole should also remember that he landed in the middle of a raging conflict with no idea of what was even going on in the party.

“People know that the 22 members of the APC who went to court on behalf of other party members, have contributed more to the APC in Rivers State than Mr. Cole and they are major stakeholders in the party as pioneer ward chairmen. They were part of those who put their lives on the line to build the APC in Rivers State.

“We should close this chapter of hate and join other Nigerians who are already moving to the next level. Rivers State should not be left behind,” he stated.