THERE is a crack in the camp of the Senator Magnus Abe faction of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State as its erstwhile chairman, Peter Odike has backed the caretaker committee inaugurated by the national secretariat of the party.
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has recently inaugurated a committee with Barrister Isaac Abott Ogbobula as chairman with the mandate to run the affairs of its Rivers State chapter ahead of the congresses that would produce substantive officers at the ward, local government and state chapter.
Senator Magnus Abe had since rejected the composition of the Committee as he claimed that they were loyalists of Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. He also gave notice that his supporters would boycott the congresses.
But Mr Odike surfaced at the party national secretariat on Thursday where he met the acting national secretary, Victor Giadom who incidentally is from Rivers State.
The erstwhile chairman of the Senator Abe faction pledged his support to the caretaker committee and further appealed to leaders of the party in the state to bury their differences and ensure the success of the planned congresses.
He said: “We want to inform the media that the caretaker committee that has been set up by the party, we will embrace it because we don’t want what happened in 2018 towards 2019 election to happen again.
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“In lieu of this promise, I told my people that I want to consult all the leaders of the party, I want to live with total peace in Rivers State. We are no longer factional. We are one body established to rule Rivers State. Because of this little crisis, and as a father in Rivers State, I don’t want a repeat of this in the long run.
“Hence, I’m calling on the national secretariat to ensure that the caretaker committee being set to be transparent in all their dealings and ensure that everybody is carried along. Let people obtain their forms. Those people who want to contest the position they want to occupy from the ward level to the State level so that they will come back and organise themselves.
“We have one state leader who is no other person than Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the minister of Transportation. His leadership is not in doubt. Nobody is objecting to it. I feel like this time around, we should embrace him further and get back the lost glory of Rivers State. We don’t want a situation whereby the ruling party will become opposition due to the fact that there have been quarrels.
“I call on the party caretaker to remain politically unbiased. One of these days, we shall have cause to rejoice. We are suffering in Rivers State. In the history of Nigeria, politically, since 1979, Rivers State will always have two ministers. But in lieu of crisis, we lost it this time around, we have only one minister and we produce the oil. Why?
“I came from a Local Government that has a large deposit of oil. But because we are in opposition, there is nothing to show for it. I call on all members of our party to embrace peace. No more, no less. As far as I’m concerned, no victor no vanquished.”
In his response, the APC national secretary appealed to aggrieved chieftains of the party in Rivers state to subordinate their interest to the party interest.
“Success of our party is more important than any personal interest. That’s what we should pursue. I want to plead with you to use your wealth of experience to serve as a good ambassador to ensure that we come together. If we come as one family, with peace and cohesion we can fight PDP.
“I thank you for your concern and I want to assure you that the NWC will give a level playing ground for everybody to participate in the Congress.”