By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State, Amb. Desmond Akawor has declared that the party is still ready to receive back its former members who left to join other political parties because for one reason or the other, including Sen. Magnus Abe, the current governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state.
Akawor spoke while receiving some defectors from other parties back to the PDP on Wednesday in the Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Describing Abe, who hails from Gokana LGA, as a brother and friend, Akawor acknowledged the SDP guber candidate’s intelligence and fighting spirit but noted that those qualities were not enough to give one victory in politics.
He, therefore, instructed the Gokana LGA chairman, Confidence Dekor, to receive Abe back to the PDP no later than January 15, 2023.
Akawor said: “For you in Gokana, you may say your sons may be contesting in other political parties but I want to let you know that as the chairman of IPAC (Inter-Party Advisory Committee), I can tell you what is happening in other political parties.
“And today, I will give instruction to the LGA chairman of PDP in Gokana: those our brothers who moved from party A to party B, from PDP to APC to SDP, they’re tired; receive them before the 15th of January.
“Please ensure that our brother, my friend, my personal friend, Magnus Abe, receive him before the 15th of January back to our fold because I know he has struggled, he’s a young man, he speaks good English but my brother, one man in my place says ‘No be money dem dey take do am, no be by garagara dem dey take do am.”
Chairman of Gokana LGA, Confidence Dekor, said the developmental strides of Governor Nyesom Wike were responsible for the mass defection of members of other political parties to the PDP.
He assured the defectors of equal treatment with other members of the party.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, one of the defectors, Carlos Kakue, said the PDP’s prioritisation of the welfare of its members attracted them to the party.
Meanwhile, expectations have been high that the Rivers SDP governorship candidate, Sen. Magnus Abe, might respond to the Amb. Desmond Akawor’s remarks about him.
But at the time of doing this report, he was yet to do so.
