Rivers rerun: Stop working for PDP – Abe tells Dogara

7 years ago

Rivers rerun: Stop working for PDP – Abe tells Dogara

The All Progressives Congress, APC candidate for the rerun election in Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, has questioned the investigative hearing by the House of Representatives on incidence of violence before the botched rerun elections in March this year.

Senator Abe is also accusing the leadership of the lower chamber of the National Assembly of working to advance the interest of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the rescheduled rerun elections on December 10.

In a letter addressed to the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, Senator Abe, alleged that the PDP was using the leadership of the House to unduly interfere in federal agencies in a bid to use them to influence public opinion ahead of the forthcoming polls.

He acknowledged receiving a letter of invitation from the House Committee on Army to attend a public hearing of a petition by the South-South Zone of the Civil Liberties Organization against the Nigerian Army.

The former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream said it was not surprising that the petition against the Army was signed by Livingstone Wechie.

He described the author of the petition as the arrowhead of the campaign of calumny against the APC in Rivers State by Governor Nyesom Wike.

Senator Abe informed the Speaker of the House that Wechie was the Vice Chairman of the Rivers PDP 2015 campaign publicity team.

Magnus Abe also recalled that the same Livingston Wechie was the pilot of what he described as infamous Integrity Group that sponsored a petition against former governor and Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi in a failed bid to stop his ministerial confirmation by the Senate.

The letter reads: “I am in receipt of a letter of invitation from the House of Representatives Committee on the Army dated the 20th day of October, 2016, inviting me to attend a public hearing of a petition by the Civil Liberties Organization South-South zone against the Nigerian Army. Not surprisingly Mr. Speaker, the petition is signed by Mr. Livingstone Wechie, the arrowhead of Governor Wike’s campaign of calumny against the APC in Rivers State.

“He is the Vice Chairman of the Rivers PDP campaign publicity team. He was the pilot of the infamous Integrity Group that sponsored the petition against Rt. Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in the Senate and he is also the plaintiff in the suit to stop the swearing-in of Hon. Victoria Nyeche, APC member-elect of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“Mr. Speaker sir, I have read through the said petition and it is clear that the petition sponsored through your office is nothing but an ill-disgusised attempt by the Peoples Democratic Party to manipulate federal agencies and influence public opinion in order to secure undue advantage for the PDP in the coming rerun elections. There has been a clear and consistent pattern of the Peoples Democratic Party which ordinarily should have been the minority party using the National Assembly to tilt the political scales in Rivers State in their favour at decisive moments.

“Out of respect for your revered office and the integrity of the National Assembly, an institution to which I proudly belong, I had opted to hold my peace, but in the face of glaring injustice and continuing manipulation of the powers of the National Assembly in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State, it has become imperative that I bring this to your attention and to the attention of the national chairman of the APC.

“Mr Speaker, it is sad to note that every intervention of the National Assembly in Rivers State usually begins with a boast by the Peoples Democratic Party led by Governor Nyesom Wike announcing the involvement of the National Assembly. Thus far, actions of the House of Representatives are tailored towards achieving a clear political advantage for the Peoples Democratic Party.