Issues
“High Cost Of Governance Recipe For Underdev.”
Rivers State was created on May 27, 1967 by a military Decree and by 1996, Bayelsa Stat was carved out of it. However, agitation for the creation of Rivers State predated Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960. During the Colonial period. Britain signed many treaties of protection with the chiefs of many coastal communities.
Some of these chiefs had hoped that with Nigeria’s independence, the treaties of protection they signed with Britain would also lapse and thus, they would become independent states. The 1958 constitutional confe4rence which affirmed Nigerian nationhood dashed that hope, but agreed on some measures to allay the fears of the ethnic minorities in this area.
Between 1941 and 1952, an organization known as the izo Rivers People’s League had agitted for the creation of a distinct Rivers Province in 1953, another body called the Council of Rivers Chief People Conference in 1956. The leaders of this organization cooperated with the Calabar Ogaja Rivers (COR) State Movement formed in Uyo in December 1953, but later broke away to press their own case before the Willink commission.
To allay the fears of the minorities under the dominant ethnic groups within the Nigerian nationhood, the British made one import and concession by setting up a Commission headed by Sir Henry Willink to look into the misgivings of the ethnic minorities. The Willink Commission recommended the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) to address the problem of underdevelopment of the area.
Surprisingly that board did not meet the aspirations of the people and thus, some people attempted to take the extra-legal means to achieve their goal. In February 1966, Isaac Boro, Sam Owonaro and Nottingham Dick with their supporters proclaimed a “Delta Peoples Republic.” Federal and Eastern Nigeria Governments brought this rebellion to an abrupt end. On May 27, 1967, Rivers State was among the twelve States created by the Gen Yakubu Gowon Regime (Satawu, 1993).
The cries of political marginalization, environmental degradation and economic pauperization continued among the Ijaws, such that the Old Ijaw province was carved out of Rivers State as a distinct Bayelsa State in 1996 by the Abacha led military government of Nigeria.
The cries of political marginalization, environmental degradation and economic pauperization continued among the Ijaws, such that the Old Ijaw province was carved out of Rivers State as a distinct Bayelsa State in 1996 by the Abacha led military government of Nigeria.
But after the civilians took power in 1999, through a democratic process, the state has not been able to meet those aspirations it suppose to have met.
Baring his mind on Nigeria’s Democracy, the leader of the Movement for the survival of Ogoni people, (MOSOP), Mr. Ledum Mitee, said in some aspect the country may have done as much as it would have done, in terms of freedom of speech, people can express themselves, press relatively free and delections were done and not military exerting force against everybody, even in terms of human rights, we have gone a step ahead but, I still believe that in terms of translating the benefits that democracy offers the ordinary people, I’m not sure that we have gotten there yet. There were times that people living in the Diobu use to turn the tap and water runs in their various yards, but today that is not the case people now use pure water or you sink a borehole, that is not good enough for a country like Nigeria. The public schools were not in good shapes until few years. The schools then looked like museum that have been abandoned for ages, thanks for the efforts of this government in Rivers State with the edifice that could be point to that there is still public schools.
Apart from the social amenities which has been absent even before the democratic process in the country, Mitee said, the government have not looked at the Agriculture and way of empowering the young ones. They have not explored enough Agriculture. The country have not reach where it supposed to reach in terms of farming, but unfortunately, the nation was still depending on the people who are toiling on their own pace, and we are getting nothing for it, and that adds to the poverty. In the past Rivers State Government use to have produce board, this board guarantee price. We also use to have palm plantations, rubber plantations but I think, since oil came, we completely dealt deathblow to all those things, out children who are growing up do not know what palm plantations are and why they even exited.
In terms of industry, the country open floodgatefor all sort of goods from every where, and so industries are completely dead, come and think of what had happened in Michelin some years ago, the company used to offer jobs to people and this was because they could produce tires and people could buy, and the company offered jobs for some thousands of people this was because they could do tyres and prople would buy them and it offered employments to a lots of people. Trans Amadi use to bubble of activities and several people were employed in various companies at Trans Amadi now the economy has sunk to the level, the factories have all gone and churches have taken over as a means of employment, he said.
He noted that one of the causes of the do or die politics in Nigeria is the lucrative nature and the high stake of the political offices, explaining that society have no longer value for professionals and role modes.
According to him, “you see somebody whom have no qualifications but as soon as he becomes a councilor, he earns more than a professor and Medical Doctor who have spent years of learning. “So, we have averted the value of society. If I may ask who are the people who are as role modes now in society, would you think of a medical doctor who have done about 8 years in the university, trying to do thye little that can seve lives, or would you think of a university professor, who have gone through all the years learning, no one thinks of them as role models any longer, we are thinking of how to be councilors or politicians. Some even apply to be a political thugs, because that is what is obtainable.
He also said the cause of running governance in Nigeria is also expensive, stressing that it has also contributed to the underdevelopment of the nation. “If you take a look at the amount the legislators are taking, you would be surprise at the cost of governance. If there is a reduction in those areas, there would be sufficient money to handle social security, government can pay every person N10,000 monthly, if even the person has no job. This would make them not to engage in criminal activities. It happens in other countries, I believe that if all these combinations are put in place, we can now say are the real benefits of democracy.
Stressing further, Mitee said government can as well buy jobs for its youth, adding that some countries do it.
He noted that the idea was to secure future for the coming generations but regretted that Nigeria is not thinking towards that direction and does not give attentions to its youths a situation he said was not a welcome development.
He said as Governor Chibuike Amaechi is about to commence the second phase of his administration, he should consolidate on what he has done in the past four years and try to connect the people with what had happened instead, “He has built schools, he should get teachers, not only getting teachers but also putting the system on check through supervision.” This, he said would help create a system that would work and punish the bad eggs.
According to him, “You can put such edifices’ and then have some class of people who would ruin the good job that he has started.
He advised, Amaechi to be thinking more of a legacy, “By now he should have settled those he owed last section. This is his last lap and the time that he owes himself a legacy. It is something that they would remember him of long after people have forgotten who built roads.
On the conduct of the last general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the MOSOP leader noted he was not sure we are there yet but said, “you do not expect a leap from zero to hero just one night,” He noted that the problem does not lie on the INEC, but the mentality and attitude of the people to what is being done. In this respect, we could look at the self imposed urgency we gave ourselves, after the 2007 elections. Late Musa Yar’Adua acknowledged that the election was not good enough and proposed for an electoral reform, but nothing started until few months to the elections, so I think to build on what had happened we should start now to amend any area that needs amendment in the electoral law and not to wait till the next election before thinking to have a law. “We give ourselves imposed urgency and I think it is not too good.”
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
