The candidates of the APC and the PDP in this weekend’s Senate election in Rivers Southeast are Senator Magnus Abe and Hon. Olaka Nwogu respectively.
Abe was the senator in the 7th Senate and was defeated by Nwogu in the March, 2015 National Assembly. Nwogu was inaugurated as the senator for the district before the election was invalidated by the Court of Appeal on account of large scale irregularities.

The two men are, however, not new to one another having been colleagues at one time in the PDP. While Abe served as commissioner and subsequently as secretary to the state government, Nwogu was a member of the House of Representatives.

By Davies Iheamnachor

Senator Magnus Abe

Strength:

Magnus Abe

Popular because he is a ranking senator in the area which has given him the opportunity to build a network around the senatorial district.
The people of the area are so much interested in his return because of the role he played in the implementation of United Nations Environmental Programme report on Ogoni land.

There are also speculations that as a ranking senator from the South-South that he is in good position to become Senate President in the event of a vacancy and a rezoning of the leadership offices in the National Assembly.
Threat:
Insinuations about his involvement in the flooding of the constituency with soldiers recently.

Olaka Nwogu

Olaka

Strength:
•Three term member of the House of Representatives with good knowledge of the working of parliament.
•The fact that he served most recently as senator for the area before his removal gives him the most recent practical experience of the constituency.

Threat:
The platform that helped him in the 2015 election, to wit, the security agencies will not be available putting him to compete without the advantage of 2015.