The factional Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Senator Magnus Abe has condemned the call by some persons for his expulsion of the party, describing it as mischievous and misguided.
The reaction is in response to a recent protest in Abuja by some purported Rivers APC supporters, calling on the national leadership to expel the former lawmaker from the party for alleged anti-party activities for allegedly instituting a court case against the party.
Director, Freedom House, and former state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Worgu Boms, stated this on Monday during a press briefing in Port Harcourt.
Boms, who served under the administration of former governor Chibuike Amaechi, maintained that Abe, who represented Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the Senate, did not commit any anti-party activity and should not be expelled.
He stated that Abe was not an interested party in any of the suits against the party, describing the call as mischievous and misguided.
The Freedom House director said APC in Rivers was not the personal property of an individual, arguing that if anyone should face disciplinary measure for anti-party activity, it should be the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, whom he said took APC to African Action Congress (AAC).
ALSO READ: Budget for image laundering, meagre ― Lai Mohammed laments
He said: “We invited you to present to you our view on the state of APC in Rivers state. This meeting is necessitated by the protest last week to the party secretary in Abuja during which a call was made for the suspension or expulsion of Senator Magnus Ndei Abe, unless, according to them, certain pending court matter is withdrawn.
“This call for any kind of disciplinary measure against the person of Senator Magnus Abe on account of the pending suit by some aggrieved party members is mischievous, misguided and can best be described as a red herring.
“Senator Abe is not a party to the pending suit filed by the aggrieved members of the party in the Rivers State High Court, which the group is demanding that he should be suspended for.
“The senator is not one of those, who paid for the form as he was not one of the aspirants for the congresses. Also, access to court is fundamental rights of anybody, even if Magnus Abe wanted to approach the court for his right, that would not warrant the protest.
“We, here in APC Rivers state, want to make it clear to the whole world, that the APC as a party is not a personal property of any individual or group, but a collective property of all of us. We need to remind all of the sacrifices of many of us towards the establishment of APC in Rivers state; some lost their lives, some lost their faces.
“Our position is, if there is any person to face disciplinary measure, it is not Abe. It is the minister that took the party to AAC. Abe has not done anything wrong,” Boms declared.
He proffered as a solution to the lingering crisis in the Rivers APC adherence of the party to the judgment of the Supreme Court, which denied the party in the participation in the 2019 general elections.
He added that in the alternative, the National Working Committee, NWC of the party should call both factions to a round table where each faction would make sacrifices towards the resolution of the matter.
and then