Former Social Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Rivera State, Senator Magnus Abe, has acknowledged that there is political crisis in the state.
He, however, maintained that there is no war waged between the State governor, Siminialayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike who now serves under the All Progressives Congress administration as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Speaking on Channels TV programme, Politics Today, Abe, who has defected to the APC insisted that Wike is an influential figure in the current administration.
He called for understanding in the state with the view to fostering peace.
Abe said, “There is no confusion here. We are not saying he is a member of APC. Wike is a minister in APC government and we cannot with all due respect and every proper sense of reality decide that as a party, we will ignore the president’s appointee from our own State, who’s is a minister. He doesn’t need to be a member of APC, but he’s an influential figure of APC government and it’s in the interest of the party and the nation to work with him.
“He was not a member of APC when he led the G- 5 to support the president. At that point, the president didn’t say, no -you are not a member of APC, so you cannot support me. So, if the president didn’t say that, then we cannot say he’s not a member of APC, therefore, we will not work with him, we are following the footsteps of our leader and we will work with him, that’s the decision the stakeholders took and we will work with him, and that is what we are doing here in Rivers State.”
He continued, “There is no point putting words into my mouth. I don’t know of any war waged against governor Fubara. What I know is there is a crisis in the state which every Nigerian knows. I was not part of the political process or group that brought Governor Fubara to power. So we are not a party to the dispute and whatever circumstances may be. But let me advise again, the executive and legislature are institutions; in the interest of the state, there should be a kind of understanding that would enable them to work together. I think that to ignore all the members of the legislature and other characters and personalities involved in the dispute and focus solely on the FCT minister and personality of the governor is a way of trying to avoid the reality of what can bring peace to the state.
“If we acknowledge that members of the legislature are also stakeholders in the government and there are some attempts for them to work together, it would be a more practical approach. So, I don’t want to be drawn into that controversy. But most importantly is that, these legislators are now members of our own party of All Progressives Congress (APC) and we will give them the much needed support of our party. There has to be give and take, we’re trying to put our party together after all these challenges we have faced in the state and we feel that the relationship with the FCT minister would help us in that process. We advise those who have challenges to do the needful so that people can work together and the state can have peace and we can move forward. That is where we are as politicians and stakeholders.”