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Senator Magnus Abe who is the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, has said that the Igbos are a significant bloc in the politics of Rivers State.
Abe made the remarks at a ceremony in PortHarcourt organized by the Igbo community in Rivers State to endorse him as their sole candidate in the March 11, governorship election.
The senator said that in the history of politics in Rivers State, everybody who understands politics in the state understands that the Igbos are a significant bloc, emphasizing that anybody with such support is already a front-runner.
Abe said: ‘The Igbos have never come together to endorse only one candidate. This is the first time in the history of politics in this state that the Igbo people Ndi-Igbo in Rivers State have come together across party lines, across every divide to endorse one candidate for the governorship of Rivers State and I, Magnus Ngei Abe, I am the beneficiary of that grace.
‘I did not campaign for it. I did not lobby for it. I have not spent a penny. Even the clothes I’m wearing here was provided for me by the Igbo people. All I have to do was to come here today and accept your love.
‘This kind of trust, this kind of commitment, this kind of love to a politician in this country where nobody believes anything that any politician says is unprecedented.
‘My prayer today is that Almighty God who holds the future in his hands and knows us even more than we know ourselves, will not allow me to disappoint you. And let me put it on the record that the Igbo people did not ask me for anything. There is no pre-negotiation. All they told me was that I should serve God and see that the people are protected so they can do their business.
‘That is all you have asked me to do. That I should abide by the oath of office that I will swear before you all.
‘Let me assure you, I know and I have said it severally and I think everybody is beginning to believe it now, even with what we are seeing today. I have neither silver nor gold but what I promise is that I will uphold the oath of the office of the Governor.
‘Everybody in this state will be treated fairly and justly. Everybody, regardless of where you come from and who you are, everybody in this state that is ready to work hard and prosper will be given an opportunity in which hard work will yield prosperity.
‘Everybody who lives here, you vote here, you bring up your children here, you have called this place your home, we will build a home together in Rivers state that all of us would be proud of, and most importantly, I think it is important that I say this, there will be no excuses.
‘I will not come back to stand in front of Rivers people and begin to give excuses why we cannot do what is right and why we cannot make your life better. There will be no excuses.’
Earlier, in an address presented by the secretary of the Igbo community in Rivers State, Ikechukwu Edward Osisiogu, on behalf His Royal Majesty, Stanhope Ogadinma Okeorji, said before this time, different Igbo groups had endorsed Senator Abe ‘even Igbo groups who have not been in good terms are all here, setting aside their differences and agreed to come together to speak with one voice’.
