‘Wike in Alliance With Tinubu’ — Abe reveals, speaks on why he withdrew Rivers poll petition | METROWATCH

By Ogochukwu Isioma

The Governorship Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, has said that his relationship with the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu transcends party politics.

Abe stated this while offering explanation on why he withdrew his case challenging the outcome of the 2023 Rivers State Governorship Election which candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Siminalayi Fubara, was declared winner.

METROWATCHXTRA.COM recalls that after the guber poll, Abe and his party approached the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal to challenge the victory of the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike-backed PDP’s Fubara.

But last week, Abe, who was accused of being used by Governor Wike to destroy the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, and his party, the SDP, announced that they have withdrawn the matter from the tribunal.

In a statement signed by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson, Thursday night, Abe explained that the case was withdrawn because he does not want to enter into a direct confrontation with the President-elect.

According to him, this is because Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) G-5 governors have already formed an alliance with Tinubu and he, Abe, will not continue to fight the Rivers State Governor.

Abe maintained that his political group had always worked with Tinubu describing the situation as the right place to be, noting, “we had always been with Asiwaju and that is where we are. That is fine because, that is the right place to belong”.

The senator, however, expressed regrets that since after the governorship election, a lot of SDP members and supporters in the Rivers have been imprisoned while several others are being arrested.

Abe said: “I think that one needs to be realistic in politics. You are not a stranger to the politics of Rivers State. As you will recollect, we have been in this game for quite some time and right from the time we were in the APC, we actually have been engaged in internal battles over the way things are being done in Rivers State.

“You know at the time we left the APC to go to the SDP and contest the Governorship of Rivers State, you will recollect that the President-elect now was in APC, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike was in PDP and we went to the SDP to contest for the governorship of Rivers State against Governor Wike and his party.

“Now, in the course of that battle, the dynamics of the politics have changed. Wike and the G-5 now have an alliance with the APC at the national level and that alliance affects the dynamics of what is happening in the state.

“Now, we looked at it that if we continue our battle in the court at this point, we will end up in direct confrontation with the President-elect, who has clearly by his body language and the alliance between the APC and the G-5, taken a clear position as far as the issue is concerned.

“So, a lot of the support, a lot of the goodwill that we enjoyed in this battle, right from the APC into the SDP has been eroded by that alliance. If we continue with this battle, we will be continuing on our own and we will not be able to get any institutional support.

“We saw the impact of this in the just-concluded elections. SDP and our supporters in Rivers State actually went through a lot. People were traumatised. As we speak, people are still being arrested. People were imprisoned; a lot of our followers are in prison. People suffered so much.

“This struggle had been sustained by Rivers’ people, making little contributions; putting their hard-earned resources together to fight against people who are engaging in this battle with the support of public institutions with an unending war-chest. So, at this point, we are forced to question ourselves clearly at what we can achieve if we continue to propel this fight forward at this time.

“Are we still going to tell the market women, these traders, all these people who are bringing out their hard-earned and meagre resources to support us that they should continue to bring money that we are going to win, we will win Wike, we will win Tinubu, we will win APC, we will win everybody on our own? Would that be the truth? So, we looked at all that and took that into consideration.

“If the music have changed, the drum beats have changed, the circumstances have changed, you need to take a second look at your plan and that is what we have done.

“Therefore, we have taken the decision in the interest of the state, in the interest of our own followers who have sacrificed and suffered so much.

“We will not continue a fight that we are not convinced we can prevail, given the changing dynamics of the political situation,” he concluded.