A Better Nigeria: Parties Should Not Be Owned By Powerful Politicians, Says Magnus Abe

Senator Magnus Abe believes Nigeria needs to fix its political system for things to start working well for its people.

He is of the opinion that restricting the influence of powerful politicians on the way political parties operate will go a long way in setting the country on the right path to progress.

Abe, who is a former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, made the remarks during his appearance on the Friday edition of Channels Television’s Hard Copy.

“That is the point I am trying to make to you that if we change the way we run our parties and build them around the people, make them strong so that they are not owned by powerful individuals, a lot of things in our country will change,” he said.

The remarks by the former governorship candidate were in reaction to the crisis rocking the APC chapter in Rivers State.

He spoke about his disagreement with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, whom he claimed took actions that led the party to its present situation in the state.

While the minister was not readily available to respond to the allegation, Abe said he had a discussion with Amaechi before the 2019 general elections.

According to him, the discussion centred on his ambition to leave the Senate and pursue his ambition to become the governor of Rivers State.

He said while he had yet to officially make his intention known, Abe said Amaechi vowed not to support him and allegedly warned the APC leaders and members in Rivers against doing the same.

The former governorship candidate attributed this to the cause of the crisis within the APC in the state, saying he did not regret leaving the Senate to pursue his governorship ambition.

He stressed that the only way Nigeria would work was to change the way the political parties in the country operate.

“If you want something, you don’t think that it is going to be easy? Right not, how a party operates is simple: we form the party, you are the leader; so, whatever you want is (what) the party (must want), anybody who doesn’t agree with you ports to the next party,” Abe said.

He added “That is just how this country has been run and I do not think that if you talk to the majority of Nigerians, that is the kind of political party that they hope for and they expect or that they think would be capable of turning around the life of this country.

“So, when the idea of a different political party with a different set of values and rules, built around the integrity of a man that Nigerians believe and know that will stand by what is right came up, everybody thought that this was where we were going to make the difference.”