The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have responded to the mass resignations bedevilling the party in recent weeks, as top ranking members have dumped the party.
It said the response was necessary to address “the anxiety and concerns members of our great Party, the public and particularly the media have expressed privately and, sometimes, publicly over the resignations of some Party members in the past two weeks or so.”
Addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, the state APC spokesperson, Chris Finebone, said the movement of politicians across political parties in Nigeria have become part of the political culture, particularly towards the end of every election cycle.
He maintained that some chieftains had left the party to pursue their life interests, while others, who according to him, were loyal to the state factional leader, Senator Magnus Abe, had tried to destroy the party in the state.
He said, “Recently, a few members of our Party in Rivers State resigned their membership of the Party. It is very pertinent to state that the persons that resigned belong to two categories. The first is made up of a few persons who either resigned to pursue other interests in life or exercised their right of free association by seeking greener political pastures elsewhere. To these persons, we acknowledge the contributions of some of them to the Party and wish them well in their future endeavours.
“However, it has also come to our notice that a few persons that are loyal to Senator Magnus Abe have also resigned recently. These are individuals who have, for the past couple of years, spoken and acted in every way to destroy the APC in Rivers State. Led by Abe, these persons tried all they could to factionalize our Party in the State.”
Finebone claimed that the Magnus Abe led-faction had worked tirelessly with Governor Nyesom Wike and “used some elements in the State Judiciary to frustrate and destroy our Party through needless litigations.”
He noted that, “the culmination of their evil machinations was the exclusion of Rivers APC from the ballot in 2019. Evidence exists how Senator Abe and his lieutenants broke into celebration the day the Party was excluded by the court from participating in that election due to their litigation.”
He continued, “After the 2019 unfortunate development, Abe continued to receive support from outside the State and persisted in undermining Rivers APC through every imaginable means principally through frivolous litigation executed through his proxies. At a time, they attacked and completely destroyed the then Rivers APC Secretariat at Forces Avenue, Old GRA, Port Harcourt. Recently, they also hired hoodlums and attempted to destroy the present Secretariat of the Party.
“Tired of Abe’s antics, majority of his supporters openly joined the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State while others found their way back to the mainstream of the Party. However, it recently came to our attention that Senator Abe and the few persons still with him had concluded plans to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on whose platform Abe will run for governor, hence their persistent hype to the effect that Abe will be on the ballot come 2023.
“In what appears to be a carefully planned exit plan, close associates of Abe started resigning from the APC and making heavy weather of their exit in the social media as part of their exit plan as though they have been functional members of the Party, just to hoodwink the public.”
The APC spokesperson further described “the formal exit of Abe and his associates from the APC as good riddance. We liken it to a successful excision of a debilitating cancer from the body.”
According to him, “Rivers APC can now heave a sigh of relief from the sustained destabilizing onslaught by Senator Abe. We wish him well as he joins the SDP. We pray that he takes everything he exhibited in APC particularly his nuisance value to his new party so that the world would see him for who he truly is.”
The party further disclosed that plans were in progress to reconcile aggrieved members, and also called on Rivers citizens to support the party to victory in the 2023 elections.
