By Precious Akutamadu
Port Harcourt, Jan. 24, 2022
Rivers State students, under the aegis of Progressive Students Network (PSN), have called on Senator Magnus Abe, the former lawmaker from Rivers South-East Senatorial District at the National Assembly, to declare for the Governorship race in 2023.
Mr. Endwell Otonnah, the state Coordinator of the group, made the call on Monday while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the group at Abe’s campaign office in Port Harcourt.
The students, drawn from various institutions of higher learning in the state, pledged to galvanise support and votes from their campuses and communities across the state to ensure that he wins the governorship election in 2023.
The students said the call was borne out of Abe’s impressive antecedents, describing him as student friendly and “a good man”.
A special programme to galvanise students’ support for Abe in 2023 will hit the ground running when a special event, tagged “Operation 10,000 students for Sen Magnus Abe is launched, with the inauguration of the coordinators of the programme in each of the institutions present.
The students recalled that Abe was instrumental in the payment of students’ bursary in the state and has also awarded numerous scholarships to Rivers’ students.
“Sen. Abe has supported many students in the faculty of law at the Rivers State university.
“We have come to the conclusion that the only person that can stand for students and ensure that students receive their bursary is no other person than Sen. Magnus Ngei Abe.
“Please sir, present yourself as governorship candidate in 2023 and be assured that you will have the support of Rivers State students because we know that if you become governor, we will not be begging for bursary again in this state.
“Be assured that we as the student community will give you the needed support when you present yourself as a governorship candidate in 2023, because we know you will remember us, and we will not fail you,” he stated.
In his response, Sen. Abe of the All Progressives Congress (APC), told the students that he is yet to decide on whether or not to join the race, reiterating that he is still consulting.
Abe described the student community as the most boisterous, and urged them to participate in the next election, as politics is what determines every sphere of human endeavour.
“The future belongs to you and if you sit down when the future is being decided, then you don’t have any right to stand up and make demands tomorrow.
“I have not yet declared to run for governor in 2023, I am still consulting. And that’s why I am consulting with you now. I don’t need to consult only with the big people, I must also consult with the youths and students,” he said.
Mr. Kingsley Igbani-Chuka, the Abe youth leader, urged the students to register and obtain their INEC voters card to allow them translate their call and pledge to support Abe into reality.
Igbani-Chuka explained that the idea of the group was that each member of PSN is expected to convert at least 20 new dedicated and genuine members who would in turn bring 10 persons each, that would bring the 100,000 block votes from the student community to vote for the Senator and his other political interests in 2023.
