Some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have alleged fresh moves by some groups to exclude the party from participating in the 2023 general elections.
The members loyal to the former lawmaker representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, accused Abe of conspiring with the Rivers State Government to achieve their aim as they did in 2019 through the courts, Punch reports.
In a statement, two members of the APC, Tonte Amachree and Kelvin Okechukwu, alleged that the Abe faction had organised a meeting with the State PDP Chairman, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, in attendance, where he advised them on how to proceed with the suit against the APC, it’s former caretaker chairman, Isaac Ogbobula, and its reassignment to a new judge.
According to the statement, “We have been loyal and active members of the Magnus Abe group. Last Thursday, we were called by Bethel Oko-Jaja and Ben Horsefall who are known leaders of the Magnus Abe group in the Opobo/Nkoro and Asari-Toru local government areas, respectively.
“They called us to a meeting where we would sign an affidavit to join in the suit against the APC in Rivers State and its former caretaker chairman, Isaac Ogbobula. The meeting was held at the house of Worgu Boms, a former attorney general of Rivers State under the administration of a former governor, Rotimi Amaechi. The State PDP Chairman, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, was also in that meeting.
“Why would the chairman of the opposition party be in our meeting? How can the leadership of the opposition PDP be in our midst, encouraging us and even guiding us on how to pull down our own party from the inside? We silently walked out of that devilish meeting with the realisation that we’ve been fooled all along. We cannot afford our party not to be on the ballot again; we refuse to let 2019 repeat itself in 2023.”
The loyalists, however, called on the national leadership of the APC to call Abe and his group to order to avoid a repeat of the party’s 2019 misfortune in the upcoming 2023 election.
