Amaechi Can’t Force Me Out Of APC – Abe

Senator Magnus Abe of Rivers South-East has said regardless of Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi’s verbal attacks against him, he won’t quit the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Abe said this in Port Harcourt during a one day dialogue and reception program organized in his honour by Network of Youth and Student Leaders in the state.

The Senator, while preaching peace and love, urged youths in the state to desist from attacking their political leaders.

He said the likes of Amaechi, Dakuku Peterside and other party leaders like APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, Secretary, Chief Emeka Bekee and Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs were not the youths’ problems.

Abe equally declared unwavering support for President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that he remains committed to ensuring that APC takes over the leadership of Rivers in 2019.

“Let me say it clearly without any iota of doubt; I am a member of the All Progressives Congress and I will remain a member of the All Progressives Congress. No matter what happens, I will not leave my party, the All Progressives Congress,” the Senator said in a statement by his spokesperson Parry Saroh Benson.

“But, people need to understand certain things. In this state, the main dynamics of our social cohesion is in favour of our party. Rivers State is ours for the taking; everybody who knows the story of our state knows that APC should be able to take the state. But to do that, we have to be one party.

“We cannot be in a party where the Minister of Transportation, with all due respect, has stated clearly that what he is running now is his own faction and certain people do not belong to that faction. That if he is removing leaders, he is removing leaders because they are not part of his own group, not because they are not members of the APC.

“Now, if all of us are in the APC and one group is this way and another group is the other way, where will the party meet to take the state? We have a State Executive Committee of the party, the Chairman should call a meeting of the State Executive Committee of the party so that members from all the factions can meet and discuss the way forward.”

On the attacks, Abe said, “On the issue of attacks and counter-attacks on social media, honestly, I have said severally and I want to say it here to all of you young people that how you address people even when you disagree with them is not a sign of courage. It is a reflection of your upbringing. Anywhere that I go and talk to people, I am very conscious of the fact that when I leave there, people are going to review what I said. They are going to look at it in the context of who Senator Abe is. I am the son of my father and my father was a priest of the Anglican Church”.

“So, sometimes, it takes courage to stand in front of people to say things that are mean and hurtful and sometimes, it takes more courage to sit down quietly and refuse to say things that are mean and hurtful. I think it makes you a better person. Love is the greatest blow you can give to anyone; you will always win when you have a good heart”.

“So, I have never supported attacks on anybody in any form. I am not even happy when people attack people on the basis that they are defending me or that I was attacked. You know today, anybody with a phone and with data on the phone is an authority. There is nobody who can stand here and control what other people will say”.

“But for me as a member of my party, the All Progressives Congress, I want to use this opportunity to appeal to those youths who are members of the APC, please, do not attack any of our leaders. Don’t attack Rotimi Amaechi on social media, don’t attack Dakuku Peterside no matter what he says, don’t attack Davies Ikanya, don’t attack Dumu Lulu-Briggs, don’t attack Emeka Bekee; they are not your problems”.

“If you have issues that you want to articulate and you are not satisfied with the way people are doing things, say so to them politely, respectfully. But a lot of things I see contain no idea whatsoever and will not help in moving the party forward in anyway. A divided house can win no battles. We must be very careful; some of the persons who are doing things to divide the house may not be interested in the success of the house because at the end of the day, if we don’t succeed, we will suffer for it.”

He urged Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike who has talked repeatedly about putting the interest of Rivers State first, to walk the talk by creating an atmosphere in which there can be free, fair and credible elections in the state.

“Rivers State is where it is today but the state can be somewhere else. We can chart a different direction, we can create more than what we are creating. We can focus on jobs, we can focus on opportunities and we can do that by creating an atmosphere in which investment and opportunities can thrive in Rivers State. These things are not magic; other people have achieved it.

“I have said before and I want to say here, that one of the things we must get in Rivers State is that we must pick leaders who will concentrate on our state. You know when we have a leader whose attention is outside the state, he wants to control Abuja, he wants to control Nigeria, the state suffers. We need a leader that will focus on the challenges facing Rivers State,” said the federal lawmaker.