A governorship aspirant in Rivers State in this year’s general elections on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Magnus Abe, has alleged that a chieftain of the party in the state, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has been paid to de-market him by spreading falsehood about him in the media.
Senator Abe, who represents Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, made the allegation in a radio programme in Port-Harcourt monitored by our Correspondent on Monday.
He said that he knows the game Chief Chukwuemeka Eze was playing, saying, however, that he was not threatened by him.
Senator Abe said: “I know (Eze) Chukwuemeka Eze very well. What he’s doing now, he was doing it for Atiku. He has done it for Tonye Princewill. Today, he’s doing it for Amaechi. Anybody who can pay, if tomorrow I can pay, he will heed your own… So, what will I be angry about Eze, for to say I’m going into any kind of argument with Eze? I know the game he’s playing and he’s not a threat to me.
“What Eze is trying to do is to de-market me and they are sending all these things to all party leaders all across the country. Every morning, that’s what people wake up to and the purpose of it is to de-market me because they think (that) maybe I’m in competition to look for position in the government”.
Meanwhile, Senator Abe has said that he is determined to properly reposition the All Progressive Congress in Rivers State with other members of the party, saying that he was willing to talk with anyone who is interested in moving the party “forward” in the state.
He said that the legally recognized chairman of the party in the state is Chief Peter Odike, stressing that the Supreme Court judgement voided the process that produced Ojukaye Flag-Amachree as the chairman of the party in Rivers State and invited Flag-Amachree to be part of the task to properly reposition the party in Rivers State.
He said: “The APC in Rivers State is clearly in a bad position. We need to stop all these things. We need to see beyond self. We can do whatever is required of sensible adults to reposition our party so that we can actually have an alternative that will work for them but to continue on this kind of behaviour, to my mind, is clearly intended to make sure that those who are benefiting from the unnecessary crisis in this party continue to benefit”.
He said that he would remain in the party as a committed member and would continue to fight for a better Nigeria in All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.
Meanwhile, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, in the Ojukaye Flag-Amachree-led faction of the party, has alleged that Senator Magnus Abe plans to eliminate him and members of his family for his utterances against him.
Chukwuemeka Eze who made the allegation in an online statement said that some allies of Senator Abe called and threatened him that his entire family would be wiped out for the utterances he made against Senator Abe and appealed to security agencies to come to his aid.
Chief Chukwuemeka Eze said: “Abe is People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) mole in APC. Abe is a selfish and ambitious man, who will do anything for power. Abe is angry that I exposed how he teamed up with elements within and outside Rivers State to ensure that APC in Rivers State did not field candidates in the just concluded general elections. I also exposed how Abe ceaselessly castigated and impugned the personality of Rt. Hon. Amaechi, his benefactor and mentor.
“To expose the intentions of Abe and his boys, an associate of the Senator… called me…, saying that they had set up a militia committee to monitor and kill me and all members of my family for what I wrote about their principal (Abe), to confirm why they were called vultures”.
He said in the statement that should anything happen to him or any member of his family, Senator Abe should be held responsible.
Chukwuemeka Eze also alleged in the online statement that Senator Abe was using the APC platform in Rivers State to lobby for a ministerial appointment in President Muhammadu Buhari’s yet-to-be formed new cabinet for second term.
