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RSG, Tinubu’s Spokesman Carpet Amaechi Over Abandoned Property Remarks …Say It’s Distasteful To Play Politics With Such Sensitive Issue
The Rivers State Government has described as unconscionable the attempt by former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, to instigate hostility between Igbos and the people of the State over legally foreclosed issue of abandoned property of non-indigenes in the state.
It will be recalled that Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State, had recently promised the Igbos that if they voted for APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, in Saturday’s election, the State would return to Igbo owners their property declared abandoned by the military government immediately after the Nigerian Civil War.
But the Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor, SAN, while addressing journalists in Government House, Port Harcourt after the State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Nyesom Wike, described Amaechi’s utterances as distasteful and an obnoxious attempt to play politics with the hot button issue of abandoned property that is considered legally closed and cannot be revisited.
According to him, the issue of abandoned property in Rivers State is essentially and palpably one of law.
“You will recall that the Abandoned Property Edit No. 8 of 1969 established the Abandoned Property Custody and Management Authority and charged that authority and the responsibility of managing the property of non indigene left unattended during the Civil War.
“The constitutionality of that law has been tested in several decisions of our court, including that of the Supreme Court and that law is still a subsisting law, and it has never been invalidated by any judgment of the court.”
“It is, therefore, palpably injurious if not completely misleading for anybody to seek to politicise the issue of abandoned poverty. The matter as far as we’re concerned, is closed legally close and cannot be revisited”, he said.
The Attorney General, therefore, declared that by playing toxic politics with abandoned property issue, Amaechi does not mean well for Rivers State.
“And we have to condemn it in its entirety. It is distasteful, It is unbecoming of a leader and every right thinking member of this society must condemn it”, he said.
Similarly, the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, emphasised that the State Executive Council in very strong terms condemned Amaechi’s recklessness in trying to reawaken the ghosts of the abandoned property issue in Rivers State.
“I’m sure everybody, all of us, we know that, that matter has long been buried, and it is no longer practical or feasible to reawaken it. It beats every reasonable imagination why anybody would want to carry politics that far.
“We are urging every Rivers man or woman and our Igbo brothers who have lived here peacefully with us to discountenance that misguided utterance which we all know was said or made, just to as it were, gain political mileage.”
On his part, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chris Finebone, noted that Amaechi must apparently be suffering from selective amnesia, because as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly several years ago, he had declared the matter of abandoned property closed.
He wondered why the same Amaechi will today turn around to promise to revisit the issue of abandoned property just for political reasons, with the intent to deceive Igbo leaders just to garner illusive votes for Tonye Cole.
“This is what has appalled people across, not just Rivers State today, but across even Bayelsa. We have received calls from everywhere condemning this kind of rascality, and then it beats the imagination that somebody who probably did not have any grasp about the issue of abandoned property, will simply jump into the political arena and want to harvest from it by offering people what is even beyond him, what he cannot offer, talk less of somebody he is bringing in to offer.
“So, we are condemning this. We are joining other well meaning Rivers people to condemn this kind of rascality and to warn the former governor (Amaechi) to steer clear from deceiving people. He has no power whatsoever to revisit the issue of abandon property. That is a matter that touches on the very fabric of everyday Rivers man’s conscience.”
Meanwhile, the South-East spokesman of the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Josef Onoh, has also cautioned the former Minister for Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, not to resurrect the old wounds of the Port Harcourt abandoned property suffered by the Igbos in the 1970s.
He also warned Amaechi not to drag the All Progressives Congress (APC) into his personal agenda by recalling the ugly incident of the abandoned property.
Amaechi had, while leading the APC gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, in a campaign, told an Igbo audience in the state that their properties that were declared ‘abandoned’ in 1970 after the civil war would be returned to them if they vote for Cole.
Onoh said that Amaechi has touched on one of the emotions of the Ndigbo, which they were almost getting through with, and asked him to refrain from such careless talks.
He accused Amaechi of desperation in politics, stressing that the leadership of the APC as a political party would not be a party to such vague promise.
Onoh wondered why Amaechi did nothing about the abandoned properties when he was governor of Rivers State for eight years, only for him to now turn around to claim saintly in a matter he knows he has no more powers to offer a solution to.
“On the 6th of November 2000, a fellow state legislator like us in the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Chief Noel Chukwukadibia, echoed the call that the issue is revisited, but Amaechi as the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, personally responded and cautioned the Igbos against reopening the issue of the abandoned property, stating that the position of the people of Rivers State remained that the matter was closed; and today the same Amaechi is reopening it just for political gains,” Onoh recalled.
He, however, commended some Ikwerres who refused to lose their Igbo identity but remained steadfast and resilient in the acknowledgement of their origin, saying he thought Amaechi was one of such courageous Igbos but has proved otherwise.
News
Let’s Approach Regional Development Issues Differently – Fubara …As S’South Govs Host Fubara To 50th Birthday Celebration
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has sued for a change in the current approach adopted by South South Governors in their pursuit to achieve holistic regional development and economic prosperity.
The governor insisted on de-emphasis in vested individuals’ political interests while looking at the bigger picture of achieving enduring regional integration that will strengthen unity of purpose to change the trajectory of development in the region.
Fubara made the appeal during the meeting of Governors of South-South States, under the auspices of BRACED Commission, at the Bayelsa State Government House in Yanagoa on Tuesday.
This was contained in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nelson Chukwudi.
BRACED is an acronym for Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta.
He said: “I want to appeal that if we have to succeed in this drive, we need to keep our political differences aside and understand that the struggle, as at today, is for posterity, for the development of our region.
“It is really sad that in Niger Delta that is the economic base of this country, the construction of a road that you tagged ‘East-West Road’ could be an issue, that we need to beg, protest, and complain to get it fixed. I don’t think it is proper.”
Governor Fubara stated that it is not that the federal authorities do not understand that Niger Delta needs the road but quickly added that they have seen that even the people of the region do not take themselves seriously.
The governor said the moment Niger Delta people stopped playing to the gallery, and place value on themselves, outsiders will have no option than to accord the region and its people due regard.
Fubara said: “On my part, I want to say this: This is not the first time we are meeting. For me, I followed the course of the region meeting in a forum that we tagged “BRACED Commission.”
“BRACED Commission is also one of the bodies that was constituted at that time to support and work out development strategies for this region. But what I am seeing today is just limiting this meeting to only BRACED COMMISSION.
“We need to widen the scope where other leaders of the region should be part of the discussion of the development of the region, and I think this is the direction that will help the region.”
Reading the Communique of the meeting, the new Chairman of the Forum of Governors of South-South States, and Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, said they support the Federal Government Tax Reform Bills, and urged President Bola Tinubu to extend the Value Added Tax (VAT) sharing percentages to oil and gas derivation.
He stated the Forum’s request to the Federal Government to urge relevant stakeholders and agencies to extend remediation of polluted environment ongoing in Ogoni land to other impacted communities and States in the region.
Governor Diri also said that the Forum resolved to establish a structural regional security network to enhance safety and security, foster stable Niger Delta region conducive for economic growth and prosperity.
Highlight of the event was the hosting of Governor Fubara to a surprise 50th Birthday celebration by the Governors of South-South States at the Government House in Yenagoa.
News
Fubara Lauds Tinubu For Setting Up Education Load Fund … Vows To Ensure Rivers Benefit Maximally From Scheme
The Rivers State Government has applauded President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for conceiving the idea of setting up the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) which has opened up opportunities for youths to acquire tertiary education irrespective of their financial status.
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, gave the commendation while playing host to a delegation from NELFUND who came on an advocacy visit to the Government House in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Represented by his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Nma Odu, Governor Fubara said in developed countries it is common for people to go through school with loans which they sometimes pay all throughout their lives, noting that “for us, it is more accessible and more friendly because you would be required to pay back the loan two years after your National Youth Service.
“It is a win-win situation; it is a situation where the youths in Nigeria should not say because my parents are poor or passed away I cannot improve on my educational growth. This offers them a golden opportunity and I am glad you came for this advocacy.”
The governor urged NELFUND to intensify its advocacy to let the people know how they can benefit from it, adding that it is more important when talking about vocational institutions.
“If you look at the developed countries it is people that went to the vocational schools that make so much money, because it is pricey to get somebody to do anything, we need to instil this into our people, our youths, because people sometimes tend to look down on people that went to vocational schools, it should not be,” he said.
Fubara expressed delight with the NELFUND programme and assured that the State Government would do whatever it can to ensure Rivers State benefits maximally from the scheme.
In his remarks, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of NELFUND, Dr. Akintunde Sawyer, informed the governor that they were in Rivers State to seek the support of the State Government towards the loan, stressing that President Tinubu has directed them to ensure no Nigerian student who has the ability and desire to get educated at tertiary level is denied the opportunity due to lack of funding.
He explained that the scheme provides interest-free loans to students who apply, adding that these loans are not repayable until two years after their Youth Service when they must have gotten a job.
A British-Nigerian politician, Florence Eshalomi, has been appointed as the United Kingdom’s trade envoy to Nigeria.
Her appointment makes Eshalomi the second Nigerian to hold the position.
Confirming her appointment on X on Tuesday, she wrote: “It is an honour to have been appointed as the United Kingdom’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria.
“I’m looking forward to building on my close ties with Nigeria to promote a strong and flourishing economic relationship between our two great nations.
“I am looking forward to strengthening the UK’s relationship with Nigeria to explore shared growth and opportunities for both countries.”
Announcing the appointment in a statement on Tuesday, Jonathan Reynolds, the UK’s Business and Trade Secretary, said the decision was aimed at attracting investment into the UK and boosting economic growth.
“I’ve launched a new team of trade envoys who will use their experience, expertise, and knowledge to unlock new markets around the world for British businesses, attract investment into the UK, and ultimately drive economic growth,” Reynolds said.
Eshalomi, 44, is an MP representing the Vauxhall and Camberwell Green constituency.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Political and International Studies with Law from Middlesex University.
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