By Iheammachor Davies

PORT HARCOURT—Senator representing Rivers South-East senatorial district in the National Assembly and factional governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State,  Senator Magnus Abe,  has called for a dispassionate review of the issues in contention  so that a clear and definite decision can be made on those to fly the flag of the party in the forthcoming elections.

Magnus Abe

Abe said that the ruling of the Court of Appeal granting stay of execution to enable the APC, appear on the ballot box in Rivers State was noted and welcomed as the court did not restore the name of anyone but merely gave a stay of the lower court judgment to enable the party prepare for the forthcoming general election.

Abe, in a statement by his spokesperson, Parry Benson said the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt on Monday did not order the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to restore names of candidates for the 2019 governorship, state House of Assembly and National Assembly elections.

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He said: “The facts are simple and sacred. A faction of the party led by the Minister of Transportation and the DG of the Presidential Campaign conducted congresses and indirect primaries in clear and open violation of the orders of a court of competent jurisdiction. This was done in the full glare of the entire country.”

According to him, the issue was taken up to the Supreme Court, and the court in its wisdom held that having disobeyed the court so openly,  they were not entitled to any relief from the courts. “This position was clearly set out in Ibrahim Umar & Ors Vs. APC as reported in Part 1650, 18. Nigerian weekly law reports at page 139.

“The judgment that is now being stayed was based in part on that position of the Supreme Court.  What Nigerians are witnessing now is a desperate attempt to reverse the law to get the President to raise the hand of candidates that the law has said does not exist. The President’s decision to abide strictly to the correct legal position is the reason for the current pressure on the judiciary.”