Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, representative of Rivers South East Senatorial District, has charged councillors that were elected on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, to work tirelessly to ensure that the party wins the 2019 elections in the state.

He gave the charge when the Rivers Councillors Forum of the 8th Assembly under the APC from the 319 wards of the state, visited him on Monday in Port Harcourt to congratulate him on his emergence as a Senator. Abe, who sympathised with them on their plight, said the only best way that their marginalisation could be addressed adequately is if the APC recovers the Government House from the PDP in 2019.

This, he said, therefore, requires everybody’s effort, including the councilors, to achieve.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), said the present government in the state was very myopic in the distribution of the resources of the state exclusively for people in PDP.

Abe explained that every Rivers person has a right to the resources of the state.

Speaking further, he said even though the PDP is the ruling party that the resources of the state could get to other parties and other non-politicians alike.

He, however, regretted that the present administration does not consider anybody a Rivers man except you are in PDP.

The former Secretary to Rivers State Government further said that some civil servants who were employed under the administration of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi were not paid their salaries for the reason that APC administration employed them not minding the fact that they are Rivers people.

He said although their matter is in court, which he cannot comment because of sub-judice that it was only an APC government in Rivers state that will address their issues adequately.

Abe urged them to double their effort in ensuring that the party wins the 2019 general elections.

His words: “The Rivers State Government is supposed to be for all Rivers people regardless of your party. If there is something that is 100 and the party in power takes 70, at least 30 should be able to slip out of the system and enter into the hands of people from other parties; people who are not in any party and all that. That was how it was. But now, the government in the state is deliberately locking the system against members of the APC. In a lot of local government areas, if you are APC member, they won’t pay you your salary. That is what is going on. The government should not be run that way because no matter which party is in power, the government is for all of us and so, deliberately shutting out people completely the way it is being done in this system because of their political affiliation is not only unconstitutional, it is totally wrong.

“As we speak here today, there are lecturers in the Rivers State University who are not being paid and the main reason they are not being paid is the suspicion that they came on board during the era of APC. So, a lot of them are being denied their just entitlements. It is this attitude and policy that is escalating the hunger among our party supporters and our response to that situation is not to go into name calling and blame game trading. It is for us to sit back and ensure that taking back the Government should be the first priority of every member of this political party.”

Abe, however, berated those who were dissuading the councillors from visiting him, pointing out that such was against the interest of the party.

He commended them for turning out en masse to visit and congratulate him on his victory.

Abe assured them that he had listened to their complaints and that the issues will be presented to the party leadership, pointing out that it was the party leadership that took the matter to court.

He further assured them that the party had not abandoned them.

Earlier in her speech, the leader of the group, Hon. Chioma Amadi-Oparaeli, said they visited Senator Abe to felicitate with him on his victory as well as present the issues affecting them.

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