…Says only Tinubu has killer-punch to keep party in power after Buhari
Frontline governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, has declared that the party would not accept an outsider as its governorship candidate in the state.
This is even as he said the party’s national leader and presidential aspirant, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, is the person in the party that has the killer-punch to keep the party in power after President Muhammadu Buhari.
Abe made the declaration yesterday at the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt, while addressing APC members during a consultation visit to stakeholders in Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas of the state.
Abe said that before now, people suffered everything in the state chapter of the APC and should therefore not expect to accept anybody who is “an outsider to the party”, adding that he joined the APC with the hope that things would be done a lot better for Nigerians and Nigeria.
This is as the former board member of the Nigerian national Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said he supported the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for president in 2023 because whether he picks the sole ticket of the party for president or not, “Tinubu will still support the party to success”.
He said: “I have told you people that I am supporting Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the reason I am supporting him is simple. I have looked at all those who want to run and I have looked at all those who claimed they have done this or that.
“And I saw that Asiwaju is the person in the APC that can deliver that killer-punch that will keep the party in power after Buhari. That is why I followed him.”
The APC governorship hopeful advised members of the party in the state against choosing the wrong governorship candidate, in order not to regret for another eight years.
Abe said: “When you are in the kind of position that we are in APC in Rivers State, you need to think differently. You cannot think the same way and do the same thing and expect anything different.
“I will tell you people a story of what happened here in Rivers State when PDP was out of government. Everybody was running around shouting, it is riverine, it is Kalabari.
“Mrs Patience (Jonathan) was the President’s wife and she was from Okrika; do you know who she gave the PDP governorship ticket to? Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, an Ikwerre man who was just coming after another Ikwerre man.
“Why did they do that? Because they looked around and put away sentiments. They put away the disagreements amongst them and looked for somebody who could deliver the killer-punch that will land them in the Brick House. They picked Wike and he delivered.
“Today, we in the All Progressives Congress, we are in a much worse position that PDP was then. Our situation is even worse; we have nothing.
“No Senate, no this, no that, no money, no curation, no peace, no unity, no togetherness. We must look for somebody who can do what no other person will be able to do.”
He said that the problem of Nigeria is not the differences among the various political parties. “The problem of Nigeria is the behaviour of certain persons. We don’t have any problem with political parties. That is why we must do things differently to achieve different result”, he said.
Senator Abe believes that “Tinubu is the only man that can deliver the killer punch that will make APC to remain in power after President Muhammadu Buhari. Whether Tinubu wins the APC ticket or not, I will contest the governorship of Rivers state. We must choose APC candidate that will deliver APC in Rivers state”.
Abe reminded his teeming supporters that the 2023 governorship of the state was very important to him, noting that he would pursue a government that will not only be for the APC supporters but the whole Rivers people and all Nigerians who reside in the state.
The former senator however called on APC members to join any group that would take a decision of who becomes their next governor, adding that if given the ticket, he would lead APC in Rivers state to victory in 2023.
Speaking earlier, former Senator Wilson Ake said “there is no more room for gambling in Rivers APC. We have been gambling for eight years. If you’re going to buy something, you will buy something that you know. You know Abe and Abe knows you.
“He has the experience. He has been a lawmaker in the Rivers State House of Assembly. He was appointed Commissioner for Information. They saw his performance and made him Secretary to the State Government, and the former governor (Amaechi) described him as the brain box of the government.
“So, that is a man you can trust to become your governor because he has the experience and he will serve you”, Ake said..
The consultation visit featured the inauguration of the executives of the local government area chapters of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Support Vanguard (BATS-Vanguard) and Progressives Students Network (PSN).
Speaking at the event, Senator Wilson Ake, appealed to APC members not to gamble with their votes during the party’s primaries, considering the fact that members of the party lost to their lives in the course of pushing for it’s success.
Ake said: *I want to appeal to APC members who know the history of the party that we lost many souls. For the sake of those we lost, we need to do things right this time. I want to assure our brothers in APC that we cannot gamble with your votes. We have suffered enough.”
Inaugurating the two groups, Chairman of BATS Vanguard in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, charged them to preach the good news of Tinubu and Abe to all nooks and crannies of the state.
Okocha said: “Today, I charge you to go to their respective units, wards, villages and preached the good news of Senator Magnus Abe. Also preach the good news of Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu.”
