Want Amaechi to apologise to president
The people of Rivers State of Ijaw ethnic nationality on Tuesday 17th March, 2015, endorsed the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan and the candidacy of the Gubernatorial Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Nyesom Wike, as governor of the state in the forth-coming elections.
This is coming three months after a Rivers Ijaw group had in January this year, at Hotel presiential ,Port Harcourt, repudiated Wike’s candidature and threw their waite behind APC Governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.
A section of Rivers Ijaw group had had on thursday, January 8, 2015 rued their marginalization in the state political firmament and threatened to move for a state of their own, envisioned to be homogenous Rivers-Ijaw state.
The group was made up of some prominent Kalabari-Ijaw chiefs led by Chief Dr. Broadfield Micheal- Jack at the press conference in which they group rejected Chief Nyesom Wike’s Selection as the PDP Candidate in the Feb 2015 election.
The group expressed disappointment that ”the outstanding contributions of sons and daughters of Kalabari Ijaw to the growth and development of Rivers state in the civil service, judiciary, the academia and business, prior to and since its creation ”, has not been matched with commensurate political recognition or consideration.
It claimed that the Kalabari-Ijaw leaders had promoted and ensured equity and fairness and encouraged other ethnic groups to reaalise their potentials, pointing out that the it was in this spirit they allowed the emmergence of Peter Odili from Ndoni ethnic group in 1999 and and supported the Ikwerre ethnic group in 2007 to produce governors chibuike Amaechi and Celestine Omehia.
”….We are not happy that President Goodluck Jonathan , a Rivers man before Bayelsa was created and who should understand the innermost political working in Rivers sate kept silent and watched the deteriorating political situation in Rivers state. we expected that Mr. President, as an Ijaw son, should have taken timely decision to protect the legitimate rights of Rivers -Ijaw but rather the president chose to act in the same manner as he did concerning the Kalabari Oil field”,.
”As it stands, the Kalabari-Ijaw of Rivers state have strong reasons to lose faith in Rivers state as currently constituted and begin a fervent quest for emancipation that must lead to the creation of a homogenous Rivers-Ijaw state in which our people can aspire to and achieve self -actualization” ,the group said.
As their temporary solution to what they termed an institutionalization of political hegemony by a forced Ikwerre domination and callous disregard for their appeal for the system to cede power to the Kalabari-Ijaw, the group said they are backing the candidacy of Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the APC Governorship candidate .
They explained that they are backing Peterside without necessarily leaving the DPD ( as they said it was too late to decamp) because the choice of Peterside by APC satisfies the clamour for power to revert to the riverine.
But as in sync with the boisterous Rivers political evnironment, the Ijaw people of the state on March 17, in a communque after deliberations, called on Governor Chibuike Amaechi, to apologise to Jonathan for “making misguided and embarrassing statements locally and internationally against Mr. President.”
The endorsement and the call for apology were contained in the communiqué issued at the first Rivers Ijaw Peoples’ Summit held in Port Harcourt yesterday.
The communiqué, signed by Ijaw chiefs, elders, opinion leaders, women and youth, said the summit collectively resolved that all Rivers people of Ijaw extraction should vote for Jonathan in the March 11, presidential election.
They also called on all Ijaws in Rivers State to vote Wike in the gubernatorial election in appreciation of his support for Jonathan at the peak of the political crisis in Rivers State.
The Ijaw people also noted that while the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has a right to contest under any party of his choice, he should endeavour “to ensure that he promotes peace and concord in Rivers State and in particular, Ijawland”.
They noted that for the Ijaw people to succeed in their quest for the enthronement of a fair and equitable political arrangement in Nigeria, they “need to build bridges of friendship, co-operation and collaboration not only across the River Niger but also with other groups within the Niger Delta”.
“we must accept the current reality that members of other ethnic groups within the Niger Delta, particyularly Rivers state, who genuinely support and identify with the Ijaw cause, are no less Ijaw than the Ijaw men and women here gathered,” they said.
The Ijaws pointed out that their support for Wike was hinged on his unalloyed loyalty to President Jonathan which he demonstrated by “leading an onslaught against those using the machinery of the government of Rivers State to frustrate the good works of an Ijaw son, President Jonathan”.
They noted that Wike had supported Jonathan and deserved the support of all Ijaw people, unlike other people of Ijaw extraction who had preferred the candidate of the APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.) to Jonathan, an Ijaw man.
They also called on all eligible Rivers Ijaws to vote for all candidates of Ijaw extraction who are running for election under the PDP in Rivers State.
In his opening remarks, Chairman of the summit, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, denounced persons “who have made it their pre-occupation to issue press releases in the name of some non-existence groups in Rivers State, claiming to speak for Ijaws in the state”.
He alleged: “It can be said that there is a link between those self-styled Rivers Ijaw elders and the APC and I make bold to say that it is not mere coincidence but part of a grand conspiracy involving them, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and certain persons who now constitute the top leadership of the APC, all against the PDP and the re-election of President Jonathan from the Niger Delta”.
