Senator Magnus Abe, the immediate past senator representing Rivers South East in this interview with Nigeria Info Port Harcourt, barred his mind on the Supreme Court judgment that sacked Igo Aguma as Caretaker Committee Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other issues bedeviling the party.
Excerpts
Question: Following the Supreme Court decision, Igo Aguma and some other persons have left the APC. Did you discover about this move before or after it happened especially for Igo Aguma leaving the party?
Abe: Rt. Hon. Igo Aguma spoke with me before he left the party and he has his reasons and I did agree with him that that was the best line of action. There have been so much hatred towards him and his family within the APC and he felt the only reasonable thing for him to do was to leave. But as politicians I believe that if things in the party become pliable, himself and others who have left the party may still come back.
Question: So the headline reads “members of APC loyal to the Abe faction and so that loyalty has your name in it. So Aguma and others leaving, is that weakening the APC structure or weakening the faction that you created?
Abe: Headlines are not written by us, they are written by you people so anybody can choose whatever they like and make headlines but the point everybody must remember is if you remember, Igo Aguma is actually a member of the Minister’s faction of the party. He came in when he felt the party was fallen apart that’s why he went to court and when he got judgment in his favour, we backed him up. So he was never actually a member of our faction so to speak but that said if he thinks he’s right as an adult and as a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to leave the party or join the party or join any other party or association that he wants to, but right now as I know; all he said was that he’s leaving the party. But I believe if conditions within the party becomes more pliable, I think alot of members who have left the party can still come back and work for the party.
Question: Still on Aguma. When he left he put out a statement ” I cannot continue to be a member of a political party that endangers and does not give any form of protection to the rights of its members and has no respect whatsoever for its constitution but chooses to be run against democratic principles for self-destructive purposes”. Now You said earlier that you did agree with Aguma’s position but you don’t agree with his action. Do you also share the sentiments based on the statement I just read?
Abe: You should read the statement to Igo Aguma because I didn’t made the statement. I made a statement that clearly says what I think. Like I said, Aguma is entitled to his views and opinions and he explained to me why he was leaving the party and I understood his reasons for taking that decision.
Question: Some other opinions said with the crisis that have been rocking the APC for a longtime, some people have said APC crisis are internal problems that they should not have made their way to court, they should have been settled internally. Do you agree?
Abe: If you go through the history of the crisis, we have always held that view. I have always said and I continue to say that the issues within the party are simply based on the massive bigoris of affecting leadership of the party. There is nothing that was the cause of the crisis that was intactable. Now what was the crisis? There was a congress and people wanted to contest which is within their rights to either contest or win or loose and they paid the party and party members to take part in this congress. The party collected their monies and when they were to be given forms, an order was given by the minister that they should not be issued forms because they were supporters of Senator Abe, they was the origin of the crisis and when they gathered to protest, if somebody had had time to come out and talk to them there would have been no crisis and even before that we have heard a meeting under the chairmanship of the former chairman, Chief Ibiamu Ikanya where we have more or less agreed on how to go about the issues but all that was truncated and so at that point, members had no option than to turn to the courts. So there is no issue within the party that couldn’t have been resolved. But if people feel that anybody holding a contrary view or opinion within the party cannot be accommodated in the party then there must be crisis in the party, it’s just natural.
Question: Do you also think that the judiciary also has its share of blame in different court judgements recognising leadership figures and they also escalated the problem. Do you blame the judiciary?
Abe: How do you blame the judiciary? The courts are for people to go there if they have issues. So if you carry your grievances, document it, paid the necessary fees and present it before a judge and the judge gives his own opinion, how do you turn around to blame the judge for delivering judgment on a matter that was brought before him. That’s his constitutional role. The courts do not file cases. It’s people who file cases and people who file cases are people who are aggrieved and so they have something that annoys them that why they go to court. So both sides have filed cases and infact, everybody St some points or the other had an issue and so the only way and the only place you can resolve issues is the court that’s why it’s called the last hope of the common man. People go there because when your being oppressed and you have nowhere to go you go to the courts; everybody have been doing that. That was how the former governor himself became governor. It was through the courts. So if today because the courts don’t favour you people begin to abuse the court and malign the courts and all that. I don’t think that’s right for the society and that’s why we took the decision to abide by the judgment of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has given judgment before. They were maligned and abused for obvious opinions that didn’t favour those who went there for a particular thing.
Question: One of the most popular narratives that have come out of, shared on diferent platforms is that Senator Magnus Abe is used by the PDP to destabilise the APC, how do you respond?
Abe: I don’t have to respond to every iberiberism in the words of Senator Rochas Okorocha that comes out here. But the point people must understand is that when I was fighting for the APC to stand in Rivers State, we put our lives on the line, was it PDP they used me then? I almost lost my life trying to establish the party in Rivers State. At a point I was flying to Abuja everyday and I was leading demonstrations and was doing everything, putting my life at risk against thesame PDP, was it PDP that used me then? At that time all of us were singing thesame song, we were talking against the PDP, we were talking against lack of internal democracy, we were talking against lack of respect for the rights of People and we all sang thesame song. Then we get into the APC and said thesame thing that I have refused to accept in the PDP and I come out and oppose it then the song changes; it’s now PDP that’s using me. How do you listen to that kind of rubbish? So when people have power and they are determined to dig what they want to do and they have the resources to pay dues in whatever shades they like. What does it takes? Is it but to give whatever you have to those you want to say what you then to say and they give you the airwaves and to say what you wanted. But the truth of the matter is that the truth does not change and it does not matter what people say and I keep insisting that at the end of the day Almighty God will have the final say, it’s not man that will have the last say. So some of those things I just don’t want border to respond to them because it’s as stupid as it sounds. When I was in the PDP, I know what I was offered which everybody knows in order to stop what I was doing against the PDP at that time and I turned it down and stood for what is right at a time when there was no prospect that we would get anything or that we would even succeed when failure was all but certain we stood there. So if we turn around today and we see thesame thing that we stood against happening to us again then we stand against it again then people turn around to say we are being sponsored by the PDP. What does PDP have to offer me? When PDP had everything to offer I was in the senate on the platform of the PDP and I was one of the eleven senators that defected against every incentives, against every offer to stand with the APC because I believe in change. So if today I get to the APC and insist that things should be done the way we agreed it to be done then it turns out that I am being sponsored by the PDP, does that make sense to you?
Question: The supreme court position borders on the leadership of the APC and not on reconciliation are there any plans for the later in your agenda?
Abe: Well, if you will recall and if Rivers people would recall, not only have I been open for reconciliation but we have always been actively working and pushing for reconciliation within the party because we understand a political party can only be victorious when it’s United, when it’s strong and when it listens to its members. A divided and disfunctional party is incapable of achieving victory. So we have always pushed for reconciliation, we have always pushed for peace in the party and we will continue to do so. And we don’t do that out of weakness, re are not doing that because of the Supreme Court judgment, we have always said that whether we win or loose because any victory no matter how sweet it may be will become irrelevant and inconsequential if it does not translate to electoral victory and we cannot have electoral victory from court judgement. We must be able to get it right by not just being able to appeal to Rivers people but to convince them that we have a better agenda and a better platform for achieving their own hopes and desires than any other option that may be available to them at this point. So it’s on that premise that we have always believed that there is need for a political solution to the challenges facing the party. it’s not out of weakness, it’s not out of a lost of options so we continue to push that position irrespective of the court judgement that the Supreme Court, no matter which way that the judgment went, we will still be pushing for reconciliation within the party because without it I really do not think any of possible victory for the APC in Rivers State. So that why we are committed to peace in the party. But ofcourse that’s left for those who have the power to be able to change course and do what is right and necessary in the interest of the party.
Question: Since you stand for peace and reconciliation, how has the other side taken your action?
Abe: Well to the best of my knowledge, I have never heard anybody on the other side talk about peace, I have never heard anybody on the other side talk about the need to put the party together in the state. All I hear is invectives on myself and my supporters and all that. But when your strong and you know what your doing and you know what needs to be done, you need to be deterred by the challenges because that’s part of what you overcome in order to get to achieving the things that are important to us as a people so we will watch as we have said the actions and utterances of the party within next few days and we will respond appropriately but that ball is not in our own court.
Question: At the moment, what is the fate of those who have bought forms to contest the Rivers LGA elections and when will you also get done with your party revalidation?
Abe: Thank you! First of all for those who have bought forms to participate in the local government elections we have asked our legal advisers to study the position of the law. As we all know from the national electoral act, if a party into an election has nominated candidates and the candidates have been screened and cleared by INEC, even the party cannot withdraw them. That position will be left to them to detect, so we need to confirm what the state of the law is as regards to the elections in Rivers State. We will not allow the candidates to suffer on their own. If we look at the law and legally they have a right to contest we will make that position public and they would be able to contest. If we look at the law and it appears that they would not be able to contest without the support of the party even after they have been cleared or if it’s possible for the party to withdraw them, then we would advise them accordingly but that decision would be based on the position of the law because at the time they were presented as candidates it was based on the state executive committee as constituted by law under Chief Igo Aguma and so that was why, but now that the position has changed if the party has right to withdraw them, we will confirm that from the law and we will make our position known. So I don’t think it’s something individual candidates have to worry on their own. On the question of revalidation and registration, I am a member of the All Progressives Congress and nobody can deny my right of membership and if the situation exist that it’s conducive for me to go for any exercise based on the party but if it does not befit I will not go.
Question: Do you have plans about leaving the APC?
Abe: Everywhere I go people keep asking me are you going to leave the APC? Why should I leave the APC?. People must have reason for what they do. I am a foundation member of this party, I have invested my entire politics into the party, I am a believer in the vehicle for change in this country and as a vehicle to end impunity and promote not just internal democracy but the rights of Nigerians both economically and politically, that’s what I believe the APC stands for and I have always stated that and it’s for the party to live up to its commitments to its members and to the members of the public. If it does that, why should anybody leave? If those ideals could be found elsewhere then there would be no need to create the APC in the first place. We came here because we believe that this one is the one we were doing by ourselves with the understanding that this underlying principles and values would be what would drive the party. That’s what we all agreed and nobody within the APC can claim otherwise because it’s something that is known to the entire country that this is what we agreed and that is what brought about our mantra of change. So if the party lives up to its ideals there will be no need for any Nigerian to look for another political gathering of any kind because this would be the party that will take Nigerians to our Eldorado but if the party becomes too toxic where diverse ideas cannot flourish, where dissenting opinions are not tolerated and where members sacrifices and support and inputs to the party can be thrown away at the drop of a hat then that place becomes too constrictive for peace to take place. We all need to walk together to make the party what we all wish that all of us would be happy to love and I am ready to contribute my own little quota towards achieving that kind of political state and association not just in Rivers State, Port Harcourt but the entire country. I think that is why we formed the All Progressives Congress. Thank you.
