The quiet calm which has recently settled over the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), following the Supreme Court judgment which swept the party clean is beginning to yield rich dividends.

The party has gained thousands of new members following the tour embarked upon by the Minister of Transportation and South/South APC Leader, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, round the 23 local government areas of Rivers State. “The tour was primarily aimed to express gratitude to God and thank party members for their steadfastness and unwaveringly upbeat attitude, faith, support and commitment to the cause of the party and the pursuit for justice,” according to a statement made available to media houses in Port Harcourt by APC chieftain and erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze. He said in the statement issued on Thursday that “the Minister understands the yearnings and feels the pulse of the plebs and thus, by the tour, has resonated the timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people bounded by the shared vision of a better and greater Rivers.”

Reacting to the exodus from PDP to APC in each local government area visited, Eze said the obligation of returning thanks is a crucial one. He noted that “the Minister, as a leader and statesman, understands the exigency of that singular duty to the masses which was properly enunciated by James Allen, when he posited that ‘no duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks’, and like Jacques Maritain puts it; ‘gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy’. Wherever he touched, Amaechi gave thanks to God and showered appreciation on the people thus, attracting multitudes in their hundreds and thousands into the fold of the Rivers APC.”

Eze stressed that Amaechi during the tour “emphasised the need for a harmonious and symbiotic relationship among party faithful to achieve the fair and just project of producing a Governor of Rivers State from the riverine area in respect of the upland and riverine dichotomy.” “It doesn’t matter if you are from upland or riverine, the most important thing is for everyone to come together and work to have a riverine Governor come 2023,” he quoted Amaechi as saying.

Eze lamented that Amaechi’s statement “was grossly misconstrued by Sen. Magnus Abe, former Rivers South/East Senator, who misrepresented it to mean the pre-imposition of a guber candidate on the party ahead of the 2023 elections.”

The party chief who reserved comments “on Abe’s balderdash”, said “it would amount to a wasteful venture responding to the ignorance of a third party, a nosy-poker, and an intermeddler who has no business in progressives family.” He insisted that “Abe’s membership of the All Progressives Congress is in abeyance until he formally renews his membership by revalidating in the ongoing nationwide membership drive which ended 31 March, 2021, unless a further extension is approved by the National Leadership of the party.”

Update news