Former Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) In Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, said he has not adverse to working with the minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike if he joins the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Abe, who said Wike will add value to the APC, however said he won’t “join any divide” in the party but work with the leadership that is recognised by the party’s national leadership.
He stated this while justifying his plans to return to APC, saying the reasons for which he left the party has been resolved.
Abe, who spoke as a guest on Politics Today, a political programme on Channels, also cited his desire to support President Bola Tinubu and ensure his followers are protected within the party.
On the FCT minister joining APC, Abe, who had fallen out with Wike in the past said, “Wike can come to APC. I was one of those who advocated his working with APC. He has capacity and he will add value.
Wike will help the chances of APC.”
He however declined to speak on the fate of APC chieftain and former minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, adding
“I am not aware he has complained about any way he has been treated. I can’t speak for him.”
Meanwhile, three House of Assembly candidates of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 general election in Rivers State, have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Also, 10 ward chairmen of the SDP in Obio/Akpor local government area of the state and hundreds of party members and supporters also joined the APC.
The three House of Assembly candidates were Choker Orlu (Obio/Akpor Constituency); Bright Amadi (Obio/Akpor Constituency); and Owaji Augustus (Andoni Constituency).
Receiving the decampees at the APC secretariat in Port Harcourt yesterday, chairman of the party’s caretaker committee, Chief Tony Okocha, described the party as one family.
Okocha expressed the hope that the decampees will bring value into the APC in the state, pointing out that there was no negative pressure on the former SDP members to join the APC.
He said: “My business is to receive formally, our brothers who have come contentiously. They have come on their own without any duress, without any negative pressure from anywhere. My business is to welcome you with your positive energy.
“I would say to you that what you have done here today is actually not new in the history of politics and politicking. I say so because, I have noticed and I have seen and we are hearing about a people who want to enter a house that the door is open and they want to enter through the window.
“We have decided that anybody who wants to enter a house that the doors are open, cannot be a good visitor. I will not have any aota of resistance to receive you into the APC family. I am aware that you bring value and you have already started to show that you will bring value to the system.
“The APC that I lead in consent with my colleagues here, we work in unison; we are a family and because we are a family, we have also told ourselves that our business will be to build a robust APC in Rivers State. There will be no factions, no factionalism and no factionalisation. All of us are one; APC is one.”
