Seven women leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday said they were barred from a stakeholders’ meeting at the Rivers State secretariat of the party on Forces Avenue, old Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Port Harcourt.
The women leaders were from Khana, Gokana, Tai, Eleme (Ogoni councils), Andoni, Opobo-Nkoro and Oyigbo local government areas, making up the Rivers Southeast Senatorial District.
Speaking with our reporter, the women leaders expressed shock about the development.
They said it may not augur well for APC candidates ahead of the 2019 polls, in a state having Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the ruling parry, with Governor Nyesom Wike seeking re-election.
It was gathered that a text message was mistakenly sent to one of the seven women leaders, who had been penciled in for exclusion from the meeting. But she mentioned it to her allies from the Rivers Southeast, who stormed the venue of the meeting.
When the seven women leaders got to the gate, they were initially prevented by armed security personnel from accessing the venue.
But they later forced their way in, which angered Rivers APC Women Leader, Mrs. Carol Nagbo, who insisted they were not invited.
An excluded local government women leader, who spoke in confidence, said: “Some of the women leaders told us the order to exclude us from the state women’s meeting came from above.”
Another women leader, who was also barred from the meeting, said: “When we asked who gave the order from above, the other women at the meeting merely said the leadership of the party. When we insisted they should give us the names of those who met and resolved to exclude us from the meeting, they repeated ‘order from above’.”
Another women leader, who was not allowed to attend the meeting, added: “The seven of us who were not invited for the meeting are from the Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, currently being represented by Senator Magnus Ngei Abe.
“What is playing out is an agenda to stop Senator Abe from contesting the APC governorship primary in 2019. They thought that by preventing us from attending the meeting, they would cut off Senator Abe’s primary constituency.
“In politics, you need to galvanise a groundswell of support from your primary constituency. Excluding us from the meeting was a deliberate move to whittle down Senator Abe’s support in the party.
“How can the interest of the Rivers Southeast Senatorial District be protected, if we, who represent them, are shut out of the APC?”
The aggrieved women noted that APC must ensure a level-playing field for all governorship aspirants for the best candidate to fly the party’s flag in 2019.
Rivers State APC Chairman Davies Ikanya said: “As the party’s chairman in Rivers State, I will not participate in a meeting of the state women leaders. So, your enquiries should be directed to the State Women Leader of the party.”