In a letter written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Abe said the issue of public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Army was raised at the botched re-run elections and the same issue is being resonated towards the re-run coming up on December 10, 2016.
Also worrisome, he said, was the petition written by one Mr. Living stone Wechie, the arrow head of Gov. Wike’s campaign of calumny against the APC in Rivers State.
The letter further stated that Wechie was the vice chairman of Rivers State PDP campaign publicity team as well as the pilot of the infamous integrity group that sponsored petitions against the former governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in the Senate from being appointed a minister.
In the letter, Abe said the same Wechie is a plaintiff in the suit to stop the swearing-in of Hon. Victoria Nyechie, APC member elect of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Abe wondered why a petition against Nigerian Army’s operations in Ogoni land would require inviting himself and Dr. Barinaadaa Mpigi, also an APC candidate in the re-run elections and queried whether they were soldiers.
The former Secretary to Rivers State Government said the petition was a propaganda stunt to lend credence to the propaganda of PDP to link APC to the activities of soldiers.
He said it was regrettable that the House of Representatives had been recruited and a willing tool to provide visual images for the PDP campaign in Rivers State.
“Thus far, actions of the House of Representatives are tailored towards achieving a clear political advantage for the Peoples Democratic Party,” he said.
Abe frowned at a situation where the intervention of the National Assembly would usually begin “with a boast by the People’s Democratic Party led by Gov. Nyesom Wike announcing the involvement of the National Assembly.”
The APC candidate said it was ironical for the House controlled by APC of which the Speaker is the head would be dancing to the bidding of the PDP.
Abe pointed out that issues of national importance in Favour of APC were ignored by the House of Representatives. such as the refusal of the Rivers State House of Assembly controlled by PDP to swear-in Hon. Victoria Nyechie and Hon. Andrew Miller to the Assembly.
According to him, “For the first time in the history of our country, members of House of Assembly elected on the platform of a political party are denied their right to participate in the affairs of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Their constituencies are denied representation simply because they voted for APC. This has elicited no response from your office.”
He also gave an instance where hundreds of innocent Nigerians had been murdered almost on daily basis by the PDP army of thugs in a sponsored orgy of violence against the APC members and supporters in Rivers state yet such did not draw the ire of the House of Representatives.
“It is clear that the petition sponsored through your office is nothing but an ill-disguised attempt by the Peoples Democratic Party to manipulate federal agencies and influence public opinion in order to secure undue advantage for the PDP in the coming re-run elections. There has been a clear and consistent pattern of the People's Democratic Party which ordinarily should have been the minority party, using the National Assembly to tilt the political scales in Rivers state in their favour at decisive moments.”
Abe described the public hearing in this instance as a clear abuse of the constitutional powers of the House of Representatives and a violation of the Speaker’s oath of office where he swore to do right to all Nigerians.
Regrettably, he said the House had not been fair to APC. “It is disheartening that the petition of APC members to the office of the Speaker have received no attention from your office but every action of the House of Representatives as announced by Gov. Nyesom Wike is implemented to the letter,” he said.
To this end, Abe said, he would decline to appear for the public hearing.
•Photo shows Senator Abe.
