Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, the Social Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate for governor of Rivers State, has provided an explanation for his decision to withdraw his lawsuit contesting the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) victory in the state.
Siminalayi Fubara, the PDP candidate backed by Governor Nyesom Wike, won the state's governorship election, but Abe and his party challenged it in front of the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal.
Abe, who was charged with being employed by Governor Wike to demolish the Rivers All Progressives Congress (APC), and his party, however, declared last week that they had withdrew the case from the tribunal.
The case, according to Abe's spokesperson Parry Saroh Benson, is still under investigation.
claimed in a statement issued through his spokesperson Parry Saroh Benson that the matter was dropped because he didn't want to face up against President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu directly.
Because Wike and the G-5 governors have already allied with Tinubu, according to Abe, he will no longer be fighting the Rivers State governor.
He asserted that "political forces have altered. At the federal level, Wike and the G-5 have formed an alliance with the APC, and this partnership has an impact on the dynamics of what is happening in the state.
"Now, we considered the fact that if we continue our legal dispute at this point, we will find ourselves in a direct conflict with the president -elect, who has clearly by his body language and the alliance between the APC and the G-5, taken a clear position as far as the issue is concerned...