…. Abe’s latest plot has vindicated me

 … Commends Odike for abandoning Abe’s sinking camp

….Congratulated Buhari for his tribunal victory

The recent personal attack on the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, by the former senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, has been described as an attempt at destroying the party at the national level after dismantling the party’s structure in Rivers State.

A chieftain of the APC in the South-South and spokesman of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who raised the alarm in a statement issued and circulated in Port Harcourt on Monday, noted that a recent statement issued by Senator Abe’s political outfit and signed by its Director-General, Robertson Jack, was aimed at meting the same attack, which denied the Rivers State chapter of the party of all rights to field candidates in the 2019 general elections and gave the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) access to an unopposed election, on the national body of the APC.

Eze, who lamented the latest turn of events, as being led by Abe, noted that the former senator summoned the courage to turn the heat on the national body of the party, even while continuing to make moves to ensure the party in Rivers State never gets out of the incapacitation he foisted on it, because the national executive council of the party, being led by Oshiomhole, has refused to take the appropriate actions against him (Abe) for inflicting such irreparable damage on the party in the state, despite all warnings and advice.

It would be recalled that the Abe political organisation had recently issued a press release with the title “HOW FAR WILL COMRADE ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE GO TO DESTROY THE APC IN RIVERS?”, aimed at disparaging the national executive council and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party for going ahead to plan for fresh congresses in Rivers State and for appointing a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party in the interim. Abe had kicked against the national body’s decision and called on his followers not to participate in the congresses.

“The sin of Comrade Oshimohole and why he must be destroyed and ridiculed is the resolve of the National Working Committee of APC to restore sanity and unity to the Rivers State APC, by setting up a Care-Taker-Committee to care of the party structure and activities pending when congresses are held to oversee the day-to-day running of the party.

“According to Abe and his group, ‘the latest impetuous appointment of a 5-man Care-taker Committee by the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee to conduct Cogresses in the Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress leaves us in no further doubt that the crises in Rivers APC is in the interest of the nurturer, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman and his sponsor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, the Transportation Minister’.

“The group not satisfied by the above erroneous stand went further to insinuate that, ‘was it mere coincidence that few days after Adams Oshiomhole suspended the conflict of confidence between him and his successor, Governor Godwin Obaseki, Oshiomhole cornered two ministerial slots and the NDDC Board Chairmanship for his Edo state, leaving Rivers State with just the appointment of his sponsor, the Transportation Minister’.

“Abe and his group went further to, after their meeting in Port Harcourt, resolve not to participate in the congresses after all overtures had been made to them to encourage them to participate in the congresses so that we can collectively forge ahead as one united and vibrant body.

“However, to resolve to unleash attacks against Oshimohole just because he is at the helms of affairs of the party and decided to set up a CTC to preside over the affairs of the party in the state, simply proves that Senator Abe is on a mission to not only to destroy the party at the state level, but to dismantle the party at the national level, considering all his efforts and faulty reasoning that his nefarious activities will fetch him a ministerial post and a good number of representatives in the Wike’s yet-to-be constituted Cabinet”, Eze said.

He, however, encouraged Oshimohole not to be deterred by the acts and attacks by Abe and his proxies, expressing dissatisfaction that all his previous warnings about the negative and destructive tendencies of Abe had not been taken seriously, adding that he had over the last several months warned that the continued presence of the former senator and his followers in the party was dangerous, but that all entreaties had fallen on deaf ears.

“Now that it is very clear that Abe does not want APC to exist in Rivers State, it is left for the national leadership of the party to do the needful by expelling this man and save the party from the plot to dismantle the party and weaken it further ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“I am happy that Prince Odike, erstwhile acclaimed chairman of Abe’s faction of the party, has finally seen reasons and has dumped him and his group for their vindictive and destructive plots against the party and Rivers State at large. In this vein, I urge others still supporting Abe in this devilish mission to emulate Odike and come back to the political family that once aided them in their political ventures”, he said.

Eze urged the leadership and members of the party to continue to keep faith both at the state and national levels as all is done to find solutions to the “nuisance that Abe and his group have constituted themselves to”.

In another development, the party chieftain congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari and all Nigerians for the historical victory as affirmed by the Presidential Tribunal in its ruling that truly stated that Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for President Buhari and the APC during the last elections.

He advised the presidential candidate of the PDP in the election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to ignore those urging him to further challenge the tribunal’s judgment at the Supreme Court, saying “nothing will come out of it apart from wasting more huge funds on some greedy PDP political leaders and lawyers who are aware that PDP has no sound case to question the verdict and veracity of the last elections”.

The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), has validated the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

PEPC thus dismissed  the argument of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that President Buhari  was not academically qualified to contest the election.

Buhari was re-elected for a second term in office in February under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), however his eligibility was questioned in court by the PDP.

In its rulling on Wednesday, the tribunal ruled that Buhari possesses the West African School Certificate Examination, (WASCE) to contest the 2019 presidential election.

It said Buhari was not only qualified but “eminently” qualified to contest the election, saying that the petitioners, PDP and its presidential candidate at the election, Atiku Abubakar, could not dispute the fact that Buhari obtained WASCE which qualified him for the election.

The court said apart from being qualified, the president also obtained other certificates to validate claims that he is eminently qualified for the presidential poll.

Chairman of the tribunal, Garba Mohammed, therefore, struck out the claims by PDP and Atiku.