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By Amaechi Okonkwo, Port Harcourt
Governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, has warned members of the party to avoid the mistakes or 2018 that left the party unable to present a candidate in the 2019 general elections in the state.
Abe gave the warning on Sunday in Okrika, during the inauguration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Support Vanguard, BATS-V while reacting to the recent endorsement of Tonye Cole as the consensus candidate of the party for the 2023 governorship election.
The former representative of the Rivers South East senatorial district insisted that he is the best candidate that can return sanity to the state and rekindle the hope of the Rivers people.
The leadership of the Rivers APC late Friday announced that it has chosen, businessman, Tonye Cole, from among 13 others to fly the party’s flag as its governorship candidate in the 2023 elections.
The party said it came to the decision after a meeting of leaders with the governorship aspirants, adding that Cole emerged as a consensus candidate without any pressure from the leader of the party in the state, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, or anyone else.
Cole was also the party’s choice for the governorship election in 2019 but disagreement over the process of his emergence between the Amaechi and Abe factions led to a series of litigations that eventually made the courts deny the party the chance of presenting candidates for the elections.
In his reaction, Abe who has consistently indicated his interest to occupy the Brick House described the decision as an attempt by political schemers to divide the party, urging members not to allow it.
Abe said: “I have come out to say very clearly that I will stand for the office of governor of Rivers State. And I will present myself to Rivers people. If Rivers people say that they do not want me and they want another partner, I will respect their decision.
“If you choose the wrong partner, you will continue to suffer. But I am a democrat. If there is a process by which our people make a decision and it is not me, I will respect their decision. But if people go and gather and do kangaroo meetings and say it is this person or that person, I will not agree.
“For APC to succeed in this state we must have a clear, transparent, and honest process by which everybody who is entitled to have a say will genuinely have a say. If you have cooked up a process and you think that process will crown a king you will end up with a king that will never be crowned.
“We must be very careful not to allow people to use their political schemes to divide us and keep us down because of what they want. We will provide a government that will work for you if you give us your support.
“As far as it is possible, we must be able to work together to bring our party together. Let us not deceive ourselves, this party needs everybody to be able to succeed”.
He added; “I am telling Rivers people, if you allow me to serve you, I will serve you in a way that you have never been served before. I will be a leader that will put you first because you are the reason why we have a government.
“Let me assure you all that the road ahead will not be easy, challenging the powers that are established to transfer from one account to another will not be easy. But you have the power,” he said.