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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, has appealed to Governor Nyesom Wike and other political leaders in the state not to return the state to the dark era of politics of bitterness and antagonisms, which painted the state badly in the news.
Abe stated this when members of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Forum and the Meddle Belt Forum paid him a solidarity visit to endorse his candidature for the 2023 gubernatorial elections in the state.
Reacting to the state governor’s broadcast in Port Harcourt over the weekend, Abe said: “My attention has been drawn to the state broadcast by Governor Nyesom Wike where he expressed fears and reservations about politicians meeting cultists in hotels, bars, resorts and other entertainment centres to plan evil against one another.
“I was particularly disturbed when I saw the name of my party the Social Democratic Party (SDP) mentioned in that broadcast. My own concern and prayer is that this election cannot return Rivers State to the old place of fear, to the old place of challenges and crisis that we used to have in previous elections.”
He suggested that a security summit should be organized where all political leaders would be invited to share their ideas on how to have peaceful elections before, during and after the 2023 elections in the state.
“If there are genuine concerns about security in the state, I will expect the governor as a friend and father of the state, to call all of us to sit down together and share ideas on how to go forward into this election in a peaceful, convivial atmosphere in which everybody will be free to participate.
“Whether the governor likes it or not, it is the responsibility of the governor to provide a peaceful and conducive atmosphere for all of us and I will plead that we come together and talk to one another.
“I will appeal to my fellow politicians, the governor has expressed his security concerns. Let us not begin to attack one another on the basis of that; instead, let us sit down and look for solutions that will enable us cross these challenges without hitches.
Abe expressed deep conviction that the elections would be peaceful and opined that Earlier, Leader of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union and the Meddle Belt Forum, Samuel Adamu, said they came to pledge their support for Senator Abe and to assure him that they would galvanise the support of their members, as they believed that he has all it takes to transform Rivers State to its pride of place in Nigeria and beyond.
