Rivers SDP Guber candidate, Abe returns to APC

Emmanuel Nlewedum, Port Harcourt

The candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 governorship election in River State, Senator Magnus Abe, says he has officially returned to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Abe, an ally of President Bola Tinubu, left the APC last year to contest the governorship position in Rivers State under the platform of the SDP, after several attempts to clinch the party’s ticket on three occasions failed.

Speaking during a stakeholders meeting at his campaign office in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, the former representative of the Rivers South East Senatorial District at the National Assembly, said his returning with his supporters to support the transformation and renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

Abe stated that the responsibility of engendering peace in the party is that all members of the party, regardless of their positions, should be ready to work for the progress of the party.

His words, “We are not joining the party because of an individual, but they are in the party as the founding members of the party and grassroots supporters of President Tinubu. We believe that it is proper that we are in the party supporting President Tinubu’s developmental agenda.

“Everybody in the party should have learnt one or two lessons as to how we can make the party work. We are coming in with open-mindedness and are ready to work with everybody within the party. We believe that everybody with a sincere interest in the progress of the party should be ready to join.”

Reacting to the development, the Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha said the party is welcoming Senator Magnus Abe back to it’s fold and that they are ready to work with him.

Okocha acknowledged that “Abe was a founding member of APC in Rivers State.

“He may have left to pursue an ambition under the platform of the SDP, but we saw the end.

“If today, he is beating a retreat back to the APC, we welcome him with our full chest and we will work together with him,” he said.