Rivers APC Crisis: Abe, Aguma Defy Akande-led Reconciliation Efforts, Head Back To Court

……Their move is aimed at finally dissolving Rivers Chapter – Eze.
…….Charges national leadership to do the needful, sack the adamant duo if the party’s leadership is serious about having a party structure in Rivers State
…….Exposes the hirelings and none APC Members hired for the dirty task.

Chief Bisi Akande, a respected Elder Statesman who was a Governor when most of the current political players in Nigeria were still in school and current Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in an interview granted to PM News on 15th March, 2020 immediately after his inauguration in exercised historical statement, “Those seeking access to the courts to decide what are basically political questions perhaps think they are doing the right thing. If this is the case, I must state that they are innocently in error.”

“Their actions are harmful to the party in compound ways. First, the subject matter they bring before the court is not amenable to judicial pronouncement. The manner by which court decisions are rendered – one side wins, the other loses – is not the best way to resolve political disputes. Again, such disputes are better treated by dialogue and the give-and-take that dialogue engenders. Courts do not proceed in such a manner. Second, to resort to the courts casts the party in a negative public light. Third, this penchant for litigation undermines party discipline, internal dispute resolution mechanisms and institutions”.

Worried over the brewing disregard and crass disrespect for party constitution, as well as the manifest indiscipline being exhibited by Senator Magnus Abe and Hon. Igo Aguma, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said recent acts of the duo obviously points to a lurking danger ahead of the party which must be aborted with every sense of determination and renewed vigour.

In a statement made available to media houses, the erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Eze, said Akande, the interim National Chairman of the party, gave the warning and outrightly condemned the floodgate of litigations instituted against the party, saying the litigants are ‘in error’.

He also chided them for not exhausting the party’s internal conflict resolution mechanism before going to court.
Full details of the interview is contained in this link – https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2020/03/15/bisi-akande-apc-chief-peacemaker-to-litigants-let-me-do-my-work/

In defiance to this plea and counsel by this elder statesman who turned 80 years few weeks ago, Hon.
Igo Aguma whose agenda is to weaken the nerves of the party in a bid to ensure that PDP is the only functional party in the State so that the plot to install an Ikwerre Governor come 2023 is achieved effortlessly and to the detriment of other tribes in the State went back to Court on 13/05/2020 to pursue his case against the party not to hold any Congress in the State for hearing. The court has adjourned this case to 27/05/2020 for judgment. We just pray that the Court should consider the plight of the party and dismiss this case accordingly.

More worrisome and shocking is the fact that Senator Magnus Abe, who ensured that the APC in Rivers State did not participate or field any candidate during the 2019 general elections is done with his effort to decimate the party’s chapter in Rivers State. To ensure the success of his mission, he has mobilised some of his House-Helpers and non-APC members to sue the party and to stop her from organising any Congress in Rivers State few days after Aguma’s case was heard on a similar agenda.

Frowning at Senator Abe’s strategic craftiness, Eze said, haven achieved his mission of destroying the party in the State, the former Rivers South-East Senator was duly compensated by the PDP Government under the watch of Governor Nyesom Wike, by allowing one of his allies, Barry Mpigi to be elected a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and two of his other allies as Commissioners and members of the State Executive Council as well other sundry benefits accrued to him for working against a party he claims to be a member.

In his renewed determination to ensure that the same fate that visited the party in 2019 revisits the party by 2023, Senator Abe, defiling all wise counsel and reconciliatory efforts has mobilised some of his househelps and none members of APC to go back to court to revive the failed plot by his run away and none existent Umar and Co. whom he used to frustrate the party during the 2019 general elections.

Some of these hirelings hired to execute his latest devious and devilish plot against the party are Dele Moses, Poomi Friday, Gbosi Vincent, Nwankwo Freedom, Otioma Lucky, Kingdom Nwosu
Tuanwin Ateni, Ugochukwu Nwocha, Peter N. Bobmanuel and Emmanuel Okiasi.

It may sadden the general public to note that those funny characters had on 14th May, 2020, a day after Aguma’s case was heard filed a suit through their lead counsel, Henry Bello, Esq to the fact that they have a motion for an injunction against APC to restrain the party from conducting congresses pending the determination of their suit.

However, Eze commended the APC legal team, who immediately on hearing about this latest plot swiftly drew the attention of the court to the fact that there is an existing injunction in lgo Aguma’s suit against the said congresses, which order the party has complied with till date. And that the party do not intend to conduct the congresses until the matters in court are disposed of.

It was at that point that their lead counsel H. Bello, Esq informed the court that he wish to withdraw the motion for injunction since the APC lawyers have told the court that we do not wish to conduct any congresses.

Eze highlighted that not satisfied with this development, Abe’s boys swiftly filed a new suit seeking for interpretation of the judgment of Justice Nwogu which was a similar matter before Justice Ollor who refused to grant them their prayers in the case instituted by Ibrahim Umar and Ors V. Apc. They brought the same matter believing that they can get a different Judgment because of politics in order for them to usurp the reins of the party in the State and empowered to organise the Congresses whenever it will be organised for them to complete the total decimation of the party in the State.

The public can recall that these hirelings were not part of the Ibrahim Umar and Ors but in a bid to continue to seek relevance not knowing the legality of their claims adopted this latest strategy to demonstrate their devious plot against the party. The court has fixed Judgment on this case for June 8th while Judgment for Igo Aguma V APC is on 27th of May.

Eze recalled that one of Abe’s Househelp, Mr. Poomi Friday once threatened him and said, “Chief-Eze Chukwuemeka, God will soon disgrace you. Your paymaster Ameachi is on the verge of collapse. Check out!” A photoshoot of this threat is attached to this release not knowing that what he meant was this dubious plot of using the Court to once again disorganise the party and ensure that Rt. Hon. Dr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who is the Leader of the party in South South region does not have a foothold in his own State. In this regard as we wait for 27th May judgement of the verdict on Aguma’s case and that of Abe’s boys on 8th June, the Akande led APC NRC should do the needful and get Aguma, Abe and his boys formally removed from the party if the Leadership of the party is still eager to have a structure of the party in the State to execute its 2023 program because if Abe and Aguma are not shown the way out, the party will never have peace.

One would have loved to see a situation where Abe, Igo and their cohorts exercise restraints and allow the the Reconciliation Committee conclude its assignment. Eze said the duo of Sen. Abe and Igo Aguma have shown crass indiscipline and total disrespect to President Mohammadu Buhari, the party and its leadership as well as the Akande-led National Reconcilliation Committee by their latest actions.

The party chief wondered the rationale behind the recent veer to court when they could as well get justice at the party reconciliation level considering their argument of having a valid claim and veritable grounds of grievance.

Eze adopted the position of one of the political leaders of the party, Com (Engr) Japhet Ogbueri, National Coordinator, Intelligentsia Network For APC (In-4-APC) who recently posited that,”at this critical juncture in the political firmament of APC in the state, any leader, member or stakeholder who still has court case or intends to institute case against the party for whatsoever reason can not be said to be wearing a thinking cap. It’s grossly against the provisions of APC Constitution to drag the party or its organ to court, even as these juxtaposing court pronouncements have never favoured the party and equally the sole reason why APC gravely and brazenly lost out in 2019 general election”.

Eze agrees that there are some external principalities using these misguided agents instrumentally to destabilize, dismantle, disintegrate and disrepute APC in Rivers State but with faith in God all these plots against the party will collapse like pack of cards.

Eze restated as always, that Abe and Aguma are serial saboteurs whose penchants for greed must not be allowed to truncate the efforts of leadership at rebuilding and repositioning the party for successful outings in future elections.

The party chief appealed to Akande and his Committee to do the needful and save the party from further disintegration and disgrace from the hands of these agents of anarchy.