By: Felix Ikpotor
The crisis rocking the All progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State seems not to be ending just soon as candidates of the party barred from contesting the just local council polls in the state said the refusal of the party to allow them take part in the polls spells doom.
The aggrieved candidates who are mainly supporters of Senator Magnus Abe faction of the party said, “fresh doom awaits in Rivers APC”, as way of expressing their grievances against the state party leadership.
The candidates expressed their grievances at the Freedom House, Port Harcourt, on Friday.
According to them, their disqualification came following a letter written to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) by the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party, Isaac Ogbobula.
The statement was read by one of the disqualified APC candidates from Degema Local Government, Ilamabo Mirilla, on behalf of others.
Mirilla alleged the Minister and leader of APC in Rivers, in the letter to RSIEC, told the commission that the party would not be part of the election.
They further described the Minister’s action as unfortunate, as development came after they had perfected all modalities required to partake in the election scheduled for April 17.
Also, they alleged that the recent judgement of the Supreme Court, which authenticated the legality of Amaechi’s camp’s executive committee, did not announce their disqualification from the poll.
They said: “For a party that has not won any major election since its founding in the state, and, in fact, did not participate in the 2019 general elections, the writing to RSIEC to stop us is pointer to a deeper political malaise in our beloved party, which malaise, if not excised, will spell doom for the party soon”.
They therefore called on the national leadership of the APC to stop sitting on the fence in matters affecting the party in Rivers under the leadership of the Minister.
