Embattled All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Senator Magnus Abe yesterday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to call warring members in Rivers State to order.

Abe told a news conference in Abuja they were forced to go to court when it became clear “all internal conflict resolution processes within the party had been compromised at the altar of individual power.”

The Rivers South-East senator noted that following the alleged compromise of APC’s internal conflict resolution, aggrieved members were advised to seek redress in court.

He said the President should intervene to save the party from “men without conscience.”

The APC, he added, must distance itself from “the show of shame currently going on in Rivers State.”

On accusation that he was working with Governor Nyesom Wike to destabilise APC in the state, Abe noted that his dealings with the governor is open and in the interest of APC to douse tension and minimise violence.

Abe’s briefing, titled: “The APC must distance itself from the show of shame going on in Rivers State,” said: “I have decided to address you this afternoon because it has become clear that my party, the All Progressives Congress, has reached a point where it must take a decision either to live up to the values of our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, and do the right thing or abandon our values and destroy our soul in order to please man.

“You will recollect that I briefed the press before the ward congresses in Rivers State where I stated publicly, that the confusion deliberately being set in Rivers State was nothing other than an attempt to display the raw power of man, to destroy and exclude all those who have expressed disagreement with the leader of the party in the state.

“The Southsouth caucus of the party had met at the home of the Minister of Transportation, (Chibuike Amaechi,) in Abuja and directed that certain steps be taken by leaders in the states to build confidence in the process before the congresses should begin.

“First it was agreed that an all-inclusive meeting be called between Thursday and Friday preceding the ward congresses.

“The meeting was to include all tendencies in the party and the modalities for congresses be discussed and agreed upon. It was also directed that the congress committee from Abuja should meet with stakeholders on arrival and be briefed on arrangements and agreements already reached in the state.

“None of this was done in Rivers State, rather a faction of the party, led by the minister, proceeded with the exercise in disdain of rights and privileges of other members. Party members, who paid money to the party, were disenfranchised. All protests and appeals fell on deaf ears.

‘’After the purported failed exercise, another Southsouth caucus meeting was called, this time at the home of the minister of state for Petroleum and it was agreed the rules were not followed in Rivers State and the exercise in Rivers State was not acceptable.”

Text (excluding headline) sourced from The Nation

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