Senator Gives Reasons Why Amaechi Dumped PDP For APC

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Magnus Abe, has said the governor and his supporters defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in order to rescue the people of the state from injustice, persecution and alienation by the federal government.

Speaking at Eleme during the inauguration of the newly-formed Save Rivers Movement (SRM), Abe, who represents Rivers South-east Senatorial District, said Amaechi and other well-meaning leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state had tried repeatedly to draw the attention of the national leadership of the party and President Goodluck Jonathan to the injustice being meted out to the governor and the people to no avail.

Abe said: “They have taken our oil wells at Soku; they have stopped the Port Harcourt water project originally initiated by the federal government in conjunction with the African Development Bank (ADB); can you compare the Port Harcourt International Airport with any other international airport in Nigeria?

“I don’t think we deserve this sort of treatment after Rivers State gave two million votes to President Goodluck Jonathan.”

On the state assembly crisis, Abe said: “They went to court and the court asked that the House of Assembly should reconvene. The 25 members went to the House to resume sitting but they were not allowed to go into the assembly because they know that the 25 lawmakers loyal to Governor Amaechi are in the majority. What sort of justice can that system of policing be attributed to?

“The police refused to allow the 25 lawmakers into the House of Assembly against the order of the court. If the 25 members of the House of Assembly, who are in the majority, decide to sit what is the interest of the police?”