By Egufe Yafugborhi

Senator  Magnus Abe says  only direct primaries could guarantee a  level-playing field for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State amid  the lingering conflict between his camp and that loyal to Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, in the state.

Magnus Abe

The Ojukaye Flag-Amachree chaired faction  of the Rivers APC, loyal to Amaechi, had, three days ago, adopted indirect primaries to determine Rivers APC 2019 flag-bearers, but Abe, speaking in Port Harcourt, yesterday, countered that decision as unworkable.

The senator,the  first aspirant to declare for the 2019 Rivers APC governorship ticket, said, “Rivers is one of those states  where we can’t have indirect primaries because the entire structure in the state is embroiled in legal controversies.

“We have more than four, five court cases; so if you want to use indirect primaries, which particular delegates list are you going to use, based on which congress? All these issues are in legal tussles, so you can’t at this stage pick one above the other.

“So for safety and legal comfort of those to contest the election in Rivers, we just have to use direct primaries. Whatever objection anybody may have with direct primaries, be it lack of proper data base, security or whatever it is, these are all defects curable in our system”.