Issues
We Must Clean Up Port Harcourt City
Hon. Osima Ginah
On the 30th of last month, Hon. Osima Ginah, Rivers State Commissioner for Urban Development was the guest of The Tide Roundtable, a weekly personality interview progamme of the Editorial Department, Rivers State Newspaper Corporation. Many know him as Mr. “Demolition” Why?.
He pulls down illegal structures and enforces urban renewal progammes of the state government. According to him, the law has been there since 2003, but what we are doing is to put them into practice.
He fielded questions on what illegal structures are, compensation payments to owners of demolished structures, water front , issues on aborigines amongst others.
Excerpts. Read on.
How would you want people to know you?
My name, Barrister Osima Ginah. I was born 44 years ago, precisely 1st January 1965. I attended St Michael’s State School, Angulama where I had my First School Leaving Certificate in 1978. I then proceeded to Kalabari National College (KNC), Buguma between 1980 and 1985. I worked briefly in 1986 and later taught in private schools until I got a job in National Population Commission where I worked for about 10 years. I proceeded to the College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt where I did my IJMB there in 1993-94 and in 1994-95, I was admitted to read Law in Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt where I graduated in 1994 with LLB (Hon.). I then proceeded to Nigerian Law School, Abuja and finished in 2002
I came and worked briefly with Late Dr Marshall Harry as his personal assistant for some few months. In a view to practise my profession, I left Dr Harry and worked for about three years with a private chamber. I started there in 2001 to 2003. In 2004, I established my own office called Ibinabo Chambers at No. 9 Station Road Port Harcourt where I practised law for some time.
I believe I have an inner call to higher service to serve the public, so I indicated my interest to contest for Rivers State House of Assembly in Constituency II in Asari Toru Local Government Area. Then I was a pioneer member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where I indicated my interest to contest for the House of Assembly seat, I really moved well and campaigned, but few weeks to the primaries I got information that my name had been removed from the register. What would I be doing there? Obviously it means that I will fail the primaries. As a man, I took a bold decision and moved out of the party. I resigned formally as a party member. I sent my resignation letter to my Ward chairman who acknowledged it, then I moved out of PDP to Action Congress (AC). I continued my struggle to capture the seat but unfortunately, I lost the primaries. But as a determined politician I never gave up. I fought harder. It came to a stage I realised that politics is like sports. If you don’t win, then you have to support whoever won the election. So I supported my party to go into that election. Unfortunately too we lost the election. We lost the House of Assembly not only in my constituency but in the entire state and the governorship seat as well to PDP. But we believe it was a stolen mandate, so we went to court.
At the time of fighting that battle, I became a useful instrument to my party. My party was not buoyant. It could not have paid so much millions to lawyers and so the responsibility was given to me to handle all the House of Assembly, National Assembly cases and the governorship petitions which I handled without kobo.
I was not paid. It was still service to my party. I enjoyed it. I fought the battle, had so many challenges, threats to my life and inducement of money and property from the then government which I refused. But it came to a point when the Supreme Court gave the judgement and where Amaechi became a governor. We looked at our strategy and I advised our governorship candidate that we don’t need to fight God-sent that we will not have a case. And too we believe that we have so much to contribute and if we have genuine intention for the people of Rivers State then we can join Amaechi to contribute our quota. And so at that point, we voluntarily withdrew our case from the Appeal Tribunal and that created opportunity for me to serve in government. And I was called upon after some months to become a commissioner. And my ministry, the Ministry of Urban Development was created; it was carved out of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in December 2007.
And on the 4th of April 2008, I was called upon and sworn in as the pioneer commissioner in-charge of the Ministry of Urban Development to drive the urban renewal, planning and development policy of the state vis-a-vis the vision of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Are you still single and searching?
No, no, no! Like I said, I’m about 44 years and ten months and in 2001 precisely on 11th August I got married to a pretty lady who happened to be the last child, first daughter, only daughter of her parents, then she was Elijah Tiger, now Mrs. Osima Ginah. We have two beautiful girls who look like their daddy and mummy.
And during my service as a private practitioner, I was also elected member of Nigerian Bar Association, Port Harcourt branch. I was the pioneer assistant secretary of the branch. I also served in various capacities at the bar. I was a member of Human Rights Committee. I was a member of Inter-Governmental and Legislative Committee and it actually gave me opportunity to serve. These offices gave me a lot of experiences on whatever I am doing.
While in secondary school, I was a Prefect. I was the Assistant House Prefect of the Wilberforce House and that gave me first test of leadership. At that time, the Deputy Governor was the Senior Prefect of the school so the challenges of managing students particularly in hostels in my own House gave me experience in leadership.
In my community, the Angulama Community which I called the ancient town of the Kalabari Kingdom, a community where no one knows how it came to be. Most of us in that community believed that we came down from heaven. Our history has it that we just found ourselves there. You know most communities there in Kalabari came from one point or the other but our community was kept by God and we found ourselves there. We have no history of where we came from other than that place. We were the first settlers and every other person came to meet us there. And the language spoken by the Kalabari people is the original language of the Angulama people. And I was a member of the Community Development Committee (CDC); once an Assistant Secretary to the CDC, Secretary of the CDC and Secretary of my community. Up to the time of becoming a commissioner, I was the immediate past secretary of my community. I also served in other capacities, I was the past president, Kalabari National College, KNC Buguma, 1985 set, now the president emeritus of the Kalabari National College (KNC) Old Boys Association world wide. That’s a big responsibility on my part. I was also the immediate past Secretary-General of the Committee of Friends Kalabari, highly responsible intellectuals of the Kalabari Kingdom. In these various capacities that I served, I think I learnt to fit into the public service as a commissioner.
As pioneer Commissioner of the Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development, can you give us insight of what has happened in the ministry since you came on board?
Well, the Ministry of Urban Development is a ministry created as part of the vision of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for a desired change of the face of the city of Port Harcourt and the urban cities in Rivers State. Before the creation of the ministry and my appointment you find out that Port Harcourt has almost turned to a garbage city. A city where Rivers people could no longer be proud of and His Excellency saw the vision that there is need for urban renewal, there is need for development control and there is need for physical planning. And in search for a man who he believes will key into the vision and implement that policy and here I find myself.
Like I said, presently I am a member of Action Congress, we call ourselves “Be Bold Action”, we believe that the responsibility given to us is also akin to our slogan. When I came in as the pioneer commissioner incharge of that ministry I was the only person that was different from that ministry, there has not been new appointment other than the ministerial structure; the Permanent Secretary, Director, administration Director Finance and Director PRS. All other departments as far as we are there are inherited. So we looked at the vision of His Excellency, in order to implement and key into that vision we found that there has already been an existing law which is called Rivers State Physical Planning and Development Law, 2003. The law was made when the governor was a Speaker at the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The law was designed first, it abrogated all the existing laws on physical planning, development control in Rivers State and gave the responsibility of physical planning and development control to the state government, vis-à-vis the Ministry of Urban Development.
Then as a lawyer, I studied the law and now decided to move into the field. First, our approach is that we must clean up the city. We looked at the city and found out that over time, the government’s inability to control development, the city has been developed, a lot of illegal structures have come up and people developed without recourse to government for approval. The ministry has responsibility to give approval for physical and structural development. Any form of development on land must as a matter of law be approved by the Ministry of Urban Development. Before now, it was the Department of Urban Development in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Like I said, the ministry was created in December 2007 and you have this law in 2003 so when it was a department, it was that department in the ministry that would give approvals before you put anything on the land. So we have the responsibility to monitor every development on land, we have the responsibility to plan and implement the physical planning of the state. We have the responsibility to carry out urban renewal of the state. Now, before the present government came on board, these responsibilities of the Ministry or the Department of Urban Development, over time showed government inability or government not having the political will to embark upon this exercise which caused the inhabitants of the state to carry out development without control and that gave rise to shanties. That gave rise to congestions, illegal structures and that gave rise to stores coming out and blocking the right of ways.
So we looked at it and said, one of the first things to do is to clean up the city of the illegal structures. You will agree with me that Port Harcourt is a planned city. The colonial masters, when they came in the first time, they came in, they planned the city, although Port Harcourt has now extended beyond what we know as Port Harcourt. Now we have the Port Harcourt City Local Government Council. We have the Obio/Akpor. You will all agree with me that all the areas covered by Port Harcourt City Local Government were planned. Diobu was planned. Ogbunabali was planned; GRA Phase I and 2 were all planned. We have up to GRA Phase 8, Amadi Flat, Town and Borikiri were all planned areas.
So we looked at the plan and said okay we have in some areas established fence lines. If you build outside the fence line, your property becomes illegal structure. But don’t forget that we also have situations where government because of favouritism has aided some persons to build where they are not supposed to build. Some areas that are sanitary lanes, government has given Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for people to build in such areas where they are not supposed to build. And the law said once a structure is declared illegal structure, you demolish and government will not pay compensation. But where government has aided such person since you have Certificate of Occupancy to build in such areas where you are not supposed to build; equitable principle demands that you have to pay compensation. So we mapped out our strategies, looked at the plan, looked at the law and moved to the field. There and then, we started demolishing illegal structures. You can now stand from one end of the street and see the other end of the street because of the openings. Depending on the plan you have 3,4,5 metres or 10 metres away from the edge of the road some from the centre spread of the road. Now all those that protrude outside their fence line were all demolished as illegal structures. Now some areas of sanitary lanes that were built where they are not supposed to build we also demolished them. But where there are claims and judgment or approval we never hesitated by recommending for payment of compensation because it is His Excellency’s prerogative but not without exercising judicially and judiciously. What I mean by judicially and judiciously is that it must be in accordance with the provisions of the law.
To be continued
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
