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Tag: Rivers APC crisis

  • Abe: my 2019 governorship ambition has ended

    Senator Magnus Abe (Rivers South East) has said his 2019 governorship ambition in Rivers State has ended.

    The declaration followed last week’s Supreme Court judgment on the governorship candidacy of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Abe, who noted that court pronouncement has killed factions in the party, called on members to unite to move the party forward.

    The senator, who spoke yesterday at a stakeholders meeting in Port Harcourt, noted that by the development, the APC’s dreams for elective political positions in 2019 has been laid to rest.

    He, however, restated his determination to rebuild the party, and called on members to join hands together to achieve the dream.

    Abe said: “With last week’s pronouncement on our candidacy matter, I have ended my ambition for 2019 here in Rivers. This time again, the court upheld the Rivers State High Court judgment of Justice Chiwendu Wogu, which authenticates the leadership of Peter Odike as the current APC state chairman.

    “We have come to fight for representation in government; every human being should be treated with respect. We have sacrificed so much; we may not be holding anything now but because of what we have done, politics will be better in our country.

    “We need to be realistic so that we can move forward. The dream that we have in the state is laid to rest, because of the pronouncement of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in our suit before it.

    “We know that the Supreme Court is infallible. Its pronouncement ended our agitation. But God knows the reason, He who knows what we do not know.”

    Senator Abe also advised the National leadership of APC to stop inciting problems that will keep dividing the party.

    “The party’s national leadership should stop doing things that will put the party and state in chaos. It should instead recognise the leadership of Odike at the state level.”

  • Abe: I knew Supreme Court would strike out my motion

    Nactional leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State Senator Magnus Abe is not surprised that the Supreme Court struck out his motion seeking to validate his faction’s primaries because the Court wrote him a letter before the election, explaining that it will hear the pre-election matter after the conclusion of 2019 elections.

    Abe, who spoke on a television programme, said the Supreme Court had premised its decision to hear the pre-election matter after the 2019 elections on a petition written by the Rotimi Amaechi faction, which challenged the integrity of the panel hearing the matter at the time.

    According to him, the Supreme Court letter which implied a judgment, said a new panel would be constituted after the elections had been concluded.

    Abe said he understood the implication of adjourning a pre-election matter till after the elections.

    Read also: Supreme Court refuses appeal by sacked Kwara APC exco

    The Supreme Court had repeatedly declared the primaries and congresses of Rivers State APC null and void on the Premise of the judgment of Justice Chinwendu Nwogu. It was on the premise of that judicial pronouncement that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) removed APC from the ballot for the general elections in Rivers State. The APC accepted its fate and declared an alliance with AAC during the elections.

    Abe said: “Because of the delay in hearing the matter, the Supreme Court actually wrote a letter to us, a week before the election, to say the matter could not be heard because the other faction had written a petition against the Judges.

    “Therefore, the Supreme Court had decided that the matter could only be heard after the elections, when a new panel had been constituted. As a lawyer, I read that to mean a judgment of the court as far as the issue was concerned. This was clearly a pre-election matter. The effectiveness of the pronouncement would have affected the party going into the election when the court wrote that letter; I saw it as a decision in itself.

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  • Rivers APC primaries: Supreme Court strikes out Abe’s case

    The Supreme Court on Monday in Abuja struck out an appeal filed by Sen. Magnus Abe, challenging the primary election conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state.

    Abe had prayed the court to make a pronouncement on the direct and indirect primary elections conducted by the APC for the nomination of its candidates for the 2019 general elections.

    The apex court struck out the appeal on the grounds that the notice of appeal filed by the Senator was defective and not in compliance with the order of the court.

    The acting Chief Justice, Ibrahim Muhammad held that the notice of appeal offended section 285 of the 1999 constitution.

    Muhammad said amendment cannot be done to the notice of appeal in view of the fact that the 14 days required by the law to file the appeal had expired.

    Abe had approached the court asking it to make clarification on which of the two primary elections was authentic in the eyes of the law.

    Read Also: Supreme Court to hear APC primaries appeals on April 8 and 11

    However, the APC through its counsel, Mr Jibrin Okutekpa(SAN) objected to hearing of the appeal arguing that names of persons affected by the suit were not listed on the notice of the appeal.

    Okutekpa said this made the appeal incompetent and incurably defective.

    The court rejected the plea by Abe’s counsel, Henry Bello that the omission he erroneously made should not be visited on his client.

    He added that the notice of appeal could not be refilled because the 14 days allowed by the law had expired.

  • Rivers APC: Supreme Court to rule on other three appeals

    The Supreme Court has suspended proceedings briefly to enable it deliver its decision in the three remaining appeals in relation to the crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State.

    A five-man panel of the court, led by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour rose a moment ago after taking arguments from lawyers representing parties in the three appeals on the objection filed against the appeal by Ibrahim Umah and 22 others.

    Read Also; Supreme Court dismisses APC’s appeal on Rivers election

    The appeals, which were, this morning, consolidated by the court are SC/81/2019 (another appeal filed by APC), SC/1332/2018 (by Ojukaye Flag-Amchree) and SC/1334/2018 by Tonye Patrick Cole and others).
    The court took arguments on the objection filed against SC/1332/2018 (by Ojukaye Flag-Amchree) and said its decision will cover the other two appeals.

    The court is expected to resume again any moment from now to deliver its judgment.

    Details Shortly…

  • Don’t blame Amaechi over Rivers APC crisis – Peterside

    The Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and prominent chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has stated that the Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, should not be blamed for Rivers APC crisis.

    He assured that names of the candidates of the party in Rivers would be on the ballot for the February 16 and March 2 elections, in spite of the court cases.

    Peterside, the 2015 governorship candidate of the APC in Rivers, stated these yesterday at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, in an interactive session with reporters on his arrival from Lagos to attend the 80th birthday celebration of Sir Gabriel Toby, the father of Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, a former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    “It is not true that the Hon. Minister (Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State, who is the leader of APC in Rivers State and the South-South zone) is responsible for the crisis (in Rivers APC). I do not believe that this is the time for blame game. A lot of things happened and blame game will not help us in any way. So, even as the leader of the party, it is wrong for me to join in the blame game. Depending on where you are standing, people accuse different individuals of being responsible.

    “No man’s ambition should be superior to the collective interest of the party (APC) and Rivers people. Not mine, not anybody’s own. Nobody’s interest should be superior to the interest of the collective. So, I do not believe in the blame game. I do not support it. I will not embark on it. Rather, it is for all of us begin to engage with people. Let them see reason why we must all come to the table and agree on the best way forward and indeed work out a way forward, so that we will go and take over Government House, Port Harcourt from May 29, 2019 and begin to change the narratives in Rivers State.”

    “What has happened in Rivers APC is some sort of temporary setback. I am optimistic that APC’s candidates will be on the ballot. I am very, very optimistic. I know that the judiciary is an important component of the political process. You cannot talk about politics, without talking about the judiciary and the roles of the judiciary, but my confidence is that ultimately, this issue will be resolved and APC’s candidates will be on the ballot, they will run the elections and Rivers people will have options. They will choose the candidates of APC above the other political parties,” he said.

  • Rivers APC crisis: Abe’s supporters urge party to respect court order, say status quo remains

    Supporters of Sen. Magnus Abe-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, have urged the party in the state to comply with the order of the court that nullified the congresses held in the state, penultimate weekend.

    The call was contained in a statement issued by the lawmaker’s supporters in Port Harcourt, the state capital yesterday, following the cancellation of the exercise by the state High court, Wednesday.

    The spokesman of the Abe-led faction, Worgu Boms, in the statement, maintained that by the latest order of the court, the purported APC state congress never held and resolved that all party executives at all levels remain as they were as at May 11, 2018, until issues of court and party matters are resolved. Boms expressed the openness and readiness of the faction for peaceful resolution according to the constitution of the party.

    “In Law, when an act is declared null and void, it is taken that, that act never existed and nothing can be improved on anything that is not there. “Note also that the court is clear that no type of congress should be held until the matter in the court is disposed of, and the matter has been adjourned till June 26. 2018.” he recalled. Speaking further, Boms said: “Arising from the above, we, the APC stakeholders here gathered, state as follows: Subject to the APC constitution, the APC Rivers State LGAs and ward Excos by this ruling remain the same way they were before Friday May 11, 2018. All those who were party officers at all levels before that date are the only authentic and valid officers and thereby remain in their original positions.

    “If you were not an officer before that date, or you purportedly became one after that date, by this ruling, you are not an officer of the party at any level. “Again, we call on the executives at all levels-ward, LGAs and state levels to immediately call the meeting of their members so that they can continue administering the party from where they were stopped by the illegal occupation and separation of office. Specifically, we call on the executives at the state level to lead in this direction in accordance with the party constitution and guideline.

    “We appeal to all our party members not to leave the party or lose faith in it because of the unsavoury and obviously avoidable discontent which has now created despair and hopelessness in the party.” Reacting to the statement, the newly-elected state party chairman, Ojukaye Flag- Amachree, said the congress that produced him and other executive is not under any contention, and not a subject matter before any court.

    He said: “The reported annulment must be connected to the matter relating to the disputed May 5 and 12 ward and local government APC congresses which our lawyers are actively pursuing. As far as we are concerned, we were not served any fresh cause of action against the May 19, 20 and 21 congresses. It is unthinkable and unimaginable because no such linkage exists.”

  • Rivers APC crisis: Root causes of Amaechi, Abe feud

    As party leaders, stakeholders and All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters seek ways of dousing the current political tension in Rivers State, generated by the open face-off between Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and Senator Magnus Abe, close aides and associates of the two have offered insider hints on the real reason for the disagreement of the erstwhile political allies.

    Sources close to both Amaechi and Abe in the state APC confirmed to The Nation yesterday that the root cause of the rift between the two leaders is nothing more than the quest for the governorship candidate of the party. While sources in Abe’s camp alleged that the face-off can be traced to Amaechi’s resolve to frustrate Abe’s gubernatorial ambition, sources close to Amaechi said earlier reports on the face-off “missed the real reasons behind the crack in the relationship between the two men.”

    The source added: “All the reports seem to tell a wrong and false tale of Amaechi trying to stop Abe from getting the APC gubernatorial ticket for 2019. But that is far from the cause of the rift between the two men. The real issue between them is that Abe wants Amaechi to ‘anoint’ him as the Rivers APC gubernatorial candidate. Abe wants to be governor. That’s fine and good. But it is his desperation and the underhand tactics that he is now using to get Amaechi to support and ‘anoint’ him as the Rivers APC candidate for 2019 governorship elections that is causing all these problems between them,” the source said.

    Another source also said yesterday that Amaechi did not say that Abe could not contest but that be refused to ‘anoint’ the senator or any other aspirant now. “Amaechi’s position as the leader of the party in Rivers State is that for now, everyone with ambition to run for any elective office should hold it, keep it and work to build the party first. He called an APC meeting and told everyone that what is paramount for now is for all party members to work together and build a stronger and better party that will be able to uproot Governor Nyesom Wike from Rivers Government House and defeat all its opponents. Amaechi, for example, pointedly told the Director-General of NIMASA and the APC 2015 governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside and Abe not to heat up and divide the party in the state with their governorship ambitions. He advised them to keep their ambitions for now, work together in unity and harmony to build the party first. For reasons best known to Sen. Abe, he decided to misconstrue Amaechi’s directives to build the party first,” the source lamented, alleging that it is this attitude, which he described as ‘treacherous,’ that is at the root of the face-off.

    The source also gave instances of how Abe and his group in the party have, as he puts it, “undermined and attacked Amaechi their leader, boss and benefactor.”

    According to him: “Not long ago, when Amaechi called for a meeting with APC youths in the state, one of Abe boys, who had served as Caretaker Chairman of Abe’s Gokhana Local Government, tried to coax and stop youths from attending the meeting. When that failed, he mobilized a few youths to the meeting who were instructed to abuse and attack Amaechi and disrupt the meeting which held in the GRA area of Port-Harcourt. It was the intervention of other APC youths and security men that stopped the paid, unruly youths,” the source said.

    The source however emphasized that these realities aside, there is no crisis in the River State APC as the party’s state chairman, Chief Davies Ibiamu-Ikanya said in a statement.

    While reacting to the allegation that Abe betrayed Amaechi, Abe’s spokesperson, Parry Benson, described the senator as a consistent politician with character, who had never been treacherous.

    He said his principal, Abe, is an adherent to democratic principles, adding that “anybody who tried to crucify the senator, as a result of his belief, was on his own.”

    Benson urged APC leaders, especially in Rivers State, to adhere to the dictates of the constitution of the party, before taking decisions.

    According to him, “APC is a vehicle for the realisation of the Nigerian dream and not a weapon to mete injustice on its members.”

    Given these views, observers said during the week that national leadership of APC has the responsibility of settling the matter long before primaries, if the party hopes to win the 2019 governorship election in Rivers State.