By Olawale Lamina
Erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has dismissed as inconsequential the opinion proffered by a former Rivers SouthEast Senator, Magnus Ngei Abe, that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, is the leader of the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress APC.
In a statement made available to journalists, the APC Chief said Sen. Abe and the FCT Minister for whom he spoke, are non members of APC and therefore lack any stake whatsoever in the party to warrant the frequent intermeddling that adds no value to the electoral chances of the progressives party.
Sen. Abe, Eze recalled, left the APC in the buildup to the 2023 election to contest the governorship of the state under the platform of the Social Democratic Party – SDP. He also recalled that Abe failed to secure victory for himself at his own polling unit 10, Ward 16, Bera Town, Gokana LGA., while the FCT Minister in similar vein “has remained party-less since his deserving expulsion from his former party, the People’s Democratic Party. ”
Also, Eze carpeted Wike for his inability to secure victory for his preferred Presidential candidate right in his own unit where the Labour Party swept the poll, despite being the state governor during the time.
“Flowing from the facts afore-disected, one wonders the essence of the needless hassle over party leadership. As a matter of fact, the leadership of a party remains the exclusive preserve of that political association and only members can serve in the various capacities available in the leadership,” Eze stressed.
The APC chieftain who dismissed Sen. Abe’s assertion “as a dramatic, lame and lugubrious opinion of a persistent crisis merchant,” alleged that in 2019, the FCT Minister, then a governor, used Abe as an instrument of destabilization with the help of a compromised judiciary, to deny Rivers APC participation at the elections.
On the argument over the true party leader in the state, Chief Eze stated that, “I feel very ashamed that Magnus Abe, once a highly respected political leader from Niger Delta, suddenly no longer knows the hierarchy of a political party. By his declaration of Wike as Rivers State APC leader even as a none member of the party, Senator Magnus Abe has again, exposed himself to ridicule as this is an act of insubordination and affront to President Tinubu and the party leadership. The APC leadership and President Tinubu have clearly declared Gov. Sim Fubara as the APC leader and that is it, unless he is, like his master Wike, also challenging the authority of President Tinubu.”
He concluded by saying that the assertion by Sen. Abe is ridiculous and, as such, nobody should consider Abe’s opinion as he is only stating that to curry favour and attention from the FCT minister.
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