THE All Progressives Congress candidate in the 2015 election for Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, has debunked claims in some quarters that he was behind the current crisis rocking the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People.
Abe also stated that he had no hand in the clampdown against suspected kidnappers and cultists in the state by soldiers and added that the smear campaign against him was aimed at deceiving the people of the area and steal their votes in the forthcoming rerun.
The former secretary to the Rivers State Government alleged that some politicians in the state were using money to mobilise Ogoni people against him and the APC.
Abe, who spoke on Thursday through his Media Assistant, Mr. Parry Saroh Benson, condemned the claim by some politicians in Ogoniland that he was involved in the current MOSOP crisis.
“My attention has been drawn to a devilish plan by a group of desperate politicians to launch a smear campaign against candidates of the APC in order to deceive the Ogoni people and steal their votes in the forthcoming rerun elections.
“These desperate politicians led by a commissioner in the service of Rivers State Government and a senatorial candidate of one the political parties in the forthcoming rerun elections have released N50m to actualise this mischievous plot.
“Also N10m has been given to each of the four Ogoni local government areas and another N10m to a central organizing committee to mobilize and incite Ogoni youths against the APC, particularly against me Senator Magnus Abe on the false and spurious grounds that the APC and I are behind the current crisis in MOSOP as well as the security operations against suspected cultists and kidnappers in Ogoniland.
“As Ogoni people, we must be wise and not allow ourselves to be deceived a second time. The state of crime, armed robbery, kidnapping and cultism in Rivers State has reached an all-time high.
“Everybody has been or may be a potential victim; PDP members, APC members, non-politicians, women, men, children and even the clergy, including our revered Arch Bishop Kattey, have been victims.
“Businesses are shutting down in Rivers state and lives are no longer safe. Security operations are going on all over Rivers State to stem the tide. We heard of security operations in Abua, ONELGA, Port-Harcourt, Okrika, Ikwerre, Emouha, Ogu-Bolo, etc.
“How can politicians now sponsor youths to accuse me and the APC of the same statewide operations taking place in Ogoniland? Is Ogoni not part of Rivers State?”
On the crisis in the Ogoni apex body, Abe explained that the group had experienced leadership crisis in the past and added that Ogoni people had always resolved it.
Source: Punch
