For starters, Senator Magnus Abe, lawmaker representing Rivers South East in the Senate, insists he was shot.
Speaking to the press in Portharcourt, the lawmaker said he was in the state to formally register as a member of the All Progressive Congress in home town, Bera, in Gokhana Local Government Area.
He said: “I was not alone there. There were more than 200 people who saw what happened. This young man was there with a camera. He was beaten up and his camera destroyed. So, if nothing happened, why were they eager to make sure that no picture of what happened got out?
“They opened fire on us in their midst; we were not in any crowd; they opened fire on us. To say that I was not shot is the largest understatement or the biggest lie of the century. These people opened fire, teargas, everything was fired everywhere.
“People saw what happened. I wasn’t killed, yes, but to say if they opened fire on me and I did not die, therefore, nothing happened, is the height of falsehood. However, for me, I am going to court. I have asked my lawyers to file my case in court against those who have a hand in what happened to me. I will meet them in court.
“I am going home to register as a member of the APC. So, whether a letter is read or not read, as I pick up my card today, I become a member of the APC and I can’t be a member of APC and be sitting with PDP because in the Senate, we sit according to our parties.
“So, I will not sit there and we must find a solution that will enable me be to sit with my colleagues and contributed to the floor. If this is not done, if I talk, how would it be recorded? Would you say Magnus Abe, PDP, Rivers South-East when I am not PDP?
“It has to be recorded as Magnus Abe, APC, Rivers South-East. A solution that will solve this problem is what the Senate needs and that is what we are working for. Nobody is against anybody and nobody is fighting anybody. We are politicians and we will play politics.”
In more rubber bullet news, the All Progressives Congress has backed Magnus Abe’s decision to sue the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, and the immediate past Police Commissioner in Rivers State, Mr. Joseph Mbu over the attack on him at the Save Rivers Movement rally on the 12th of January.
Special Assistant to the Rivers State Interim Chairman of the APC, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, said the party was in full support.
“Rather than apologise to those attacked, Mbu said he only used minimum force against a serving senator of the Federal Republic and had remained adamant since January 12, 2014 when the incident happened.
“If Senator Abe had died when the police opened fire on him in Obio/Akpor, his (Abe) family would have suffered it more than the APC and since Abe was attacked while trying to be involved in the APC’s event, we will support him to the end in any court case on the incident.
“We are backing him to sue the Inspector-General of Police and Mbu. In fact, the Nigeria Police should be sued for billions of naira over its actions in Rivers State. We are not in a garrison or a military regime and that is why we are still surprised that the police could show such level of violence against the people of the state,” Eze added.
[Photo: H/T Legis reports]
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