Skip to main content

On Wike’s Paranoia Staccato


Recently Rivers state has been on the news over the sacks and counter sacks of government officials by the Rivers state governor Chief Nyesom Wike. While commenting on the sack of some of the commissioners recently, the state governor had told newsmen that he was sacking the Commissioners due to their non loyalty to him. His statement was coming on the heels of statements credited to some sources that the commissioners had paid subterranean visits to the former governor of the state and leader of the All Progressives Congress APC Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi to protest their redundancy under the Wike administration. The state governor has recently appointed commissioners but curiously, it seems most of them are from a particular area of the state and while he was appointing them he also chose to sack another set of Local government Chairmen. Whatever his anger is, it definitely does not reflect the wishes of Rivers people.

While Rivers people continue to retrospect how governance in the state has gone down to the lowest point in its history since the present democracy, I am forced to rewind the events that took place during the 2014 primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and the sham that pervaded the primaries leading to its boycott by over ten aspirants of the party. A key member of the party then Chief Barr. Dumo Lulu Briggs had complained of the fact that the party had failed to get the primaries right while raising concerns that its inability to get the primaries right will lead to wrong governance. Dumo Lulu Briggs has since moved to the better organized All Progressives Congress APC and his prophecy seems to be gaining credence by the day.

How can one explain the removal of government officials just because they do not seem to be loyal to the governor? How come the state has become the personal property of the governor? Should loyalty be to the state and its development or to the state governor? These are pertinent questions which Rivers sons and daughters are asking in the cocoon of their homes especially those of the depleting Peoples Democratic Party PDP in the state who are increasingly becoming scared of reprisals from the governor’s paranoia staccato that has become the order of the day.

As much as loyalty is a key ingredient in democracy, loyalty should be for the state and the party but what we are seeing today is that the state governor expects loyalty to be on his foot. This is regrettable and it has become a major regret which many of those that foisted the present contraption in the state back in 2014 are regretting today. It is a bit late today for most of them but not for the generality of the people of the state who have a better option in the All Progressives Congress APC.

It is not also too late for the APC as a party because there is the need for them to get the politicking right at the first instance to avoid throwing up leaders that see governance for themselves alone and not for the good of the generality of the people of the state. As it stands today, the APC looks to be in the path of getting it right especially if what transpired at the non elective LGA congress is anything to consider.

It is something worth commending that some patriotic people in the state have opted to join the APC in order to salvage the state. With the clout of such personalities and all what they personify, I see no reason why the All Progressives Congress APC will not take over the state come 2019. But there is a strong proviso to that and that will be if they learn to get the politicking right at all times.

We at the Rivers Liberation Movement RLM remain resolute in seeing that the calamity that has befallen the state is removed and Rivers people liberated from the shackles of bad governance, ethic domination, cultism etc. This is why we are expecting a situation whereby the geographical definition of the state is recognized whenever the time comes to allocate positions. The riverine people of the state have suffered silently for long due to marginalization and I believe this time around such scenario will change. Politics without carrying all facets of the people along will not bring about development it will rather bring about disenchantment and all what not. To this end, it is important that the party and the likes of the former governor of the state and other party faithful are commended for giving a body language that suggests that the riverine people will get the ticket of the party when the time comes. The position of major stakeholders of the party has continued to send shock waves to the ruling party in the state who despite their bravado, have become so distabilised leading to mutual suspicion of who is loyal and who is not loyal.


The people of Rivers state are not interested in personal loyalty but to a loyalty that will see the state move forward and that is exactly what the APC represents in the state and as we look ahead to a coordinated electioneering period, it is important that Rivers people choose the path of progress by aligning themselves to the All Progressives Congress APC. It is also important that we all ensure that we partake seriously in registering as voters for the forthcoming elections by obtaining the permanent voters card.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DEFECTIONS: Why Saraki, Dogara Others Must Heed Sen. Ibrahim's Call by Comrade Nwokoma Ndubuisi M.

The gale of defections in the National Assembly last week was followed by an advice from no one else than Sen. Abu Ibrahim that the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara and others in the fold of the All Progressives Congress APC that are still masquerading in the party should resign their membership of the party. This call which also implies that they resign their positions as leaders of the various arms of the National Assembly is yet to be complied with by those concerned as at the time of writing this piece Whatever their reasons for still staying put in the party may be, the fact of the matter is that their continued stay in the party has become a sore which must be extricated from the body.  As I watched through the proceedings of the defections on national television, I wept for the country for producing such leaders that lack morality despite all the party has given them politically which they ordin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rivers Governmnet, PDP Disagree Over $280 million Looan

The Rivers State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party in the state are currently at loggerheads over the request by the state Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, for a $280m loan for water and sanitation projects. While the state PDP said that the latest request for loan by the state government was unnecessary due to the resources accruing to the state through the federal allocation and internally generated revenue, the government said it was not true that the funds were to be used for 2015 elections. The state House of Assembly had on Monday endorsed Amaechi’s request for loan for water supply and sanitation projects. But the state PDP, in a statement, signed by the Special Adviser to its Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the request for loan was aimed at punishing the governor’s successor in 2015. The party called on members of the House of Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the African Development Bank and the World Bank not to honour the loan re...
Post a Comment
Read more

2019: Northern youths kick as Northwest APC lawmakers endorse Buhari

The leadership of the Arewa Youth Forum on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve any endorsement for the 2019 presidency. Reacting to a purported endorsement by some serving All Progressives Congress’s lawmakers from the Northwest in Kaduna, the AYF’s National President, Alhaji Gambo Gujungu, said Buhari was not fit to return as president in 2019. The AYF argued that with the killing spree all over the country, especially in the North, Buhari should serve his mandatory four years term and quit the stage for another Northerner. Gujungu noted that one sour point about President Buhari’s 2019 ambition was his claim that the killings across the country were being carried out by “desperate politicians”, yet he had not arrested even a single suspect. The AYF president, therefore, said Nigerians should blame the president for the attacks on innocent citizens. The AYF boss who spoke to our correspondent on phone on Monday, said the President’s cl...
Post a Comment
Read more