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Author: Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze
Posted to the web: 4/7/2011 5:29:22 AM

RIVERS GUBER 2011:AMAECHI, SEKIBO OR OMEHIA: WHO IS EASY CHOICE FOR THE RIVERS STATE PEOPLE?

 

By Eze Chukwuemeka Eze

 

Ahead of the April 26th2011 polls when the people of Rivers state like their counterparts Nationwide,would troop out in their numbers to elect the Stateâ's Chief Executive to headits affairs for the next four years, the decision to pen an article of thisnature focusing on the antecedents and pedigree of the three main contenders inthe gubernatorial race and what their candidature portends for the number oneseat in the state is timely.

 

The three maincontenders are Dr. Abiye Precious Sekibo of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),Sir Celestine Ngozi Omehia of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and ofcourse the incumbent Governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)Flag-bearer, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.

 

This attempt will try to unravel the past of these threegreat sons of Rivers State and who only somemonths ago were all PDP Chieftains. Incidentally, the trio were also keyplayers in the administration of Sir Peter Odili, the erstwhile ExecutiveGovernor of Rivers State from 1999-2007. DrAbiye Sekibo was the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) from 1999 to 2003and later the Rivers State nominee on the Federal Executive Council as Ministerof Transport from 2003; Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi held sway as the Speaker andHead of the Legislative Arm of the Government from 1999-2007 with Sir CelestineOmehia as a member of the Kitchen Cabinet of the Odiliâ's Administration whileit lasted. Ironically under the administration of Gov Ada-George, ChibuikeAmaechi was the Special Assistant on Education to Gov Ada-George workingdirectly under Sir Celestine Omehai who was then Commissioner for Educationfrom February 1992 to November, 1993.

To appreciate thisattempt it becomes imperative that Governance be defined and used as a guide tothis discourse. Governance according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia isthe act of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consistsof either a separate process or part of managementor leadershipprocesses. These processes and systems are typically administered by a government.Governance relates to consistent management, cohesive policies, guidance,processes and decision-rights for a given area of responsibility. For example,managing at a corporate level might involve evolving policies on privacy,on internal investment, and on the use of data. To distinguish the termgovernance from government; 'governance' is what a'government' does. It might be a geo-political government(nation-state), a corporate government (business entity), a socio-politicalgovernment (tribe, family etc.), or any number of different kinds ofgovernment, but governance is the physical exercise of management power andpolicy, while governmentis the instrument (usually collective) that does it. The term government isalso used more abstractly as a synonym for governance, as in the Canadianmotto, 'Peace, Order and Good Government'.

 

In this case, thisstudy will concern itself with governance in Rivers State and how these threegreat sons of Rivers State have either negatively or positively impacted ongovernance in Rivers State and what their candidatures portends to the Stateand her people and project what the verdict of the Rivers State shall be beingthe bearers of any of these trio being elected come April, 26th2011.

 

I may not dwell muchon the side of Dr. Abiye Sekibo, the ACN Gubernatorial candidate for the factthat during his stint as SSG to the Rivers State Government from 1999-2003 andMinister of Transport from 2003, not much was done by him to attractdevelopment of any kind to either his home town Okirika or the State. Hiscandidature therefore evokes a lot of reactions from a lot of people dependingon what side of the divide they belong to. To many, his name evokes insecurityand the modernisation of militancy in the State. This was fully played outduring the Rivers stateTruth and Reconciliation Commission headed by a great Jurist JusticeKayode Eso and sadly he has not made much effort in erasing this conceptionfrom the minds of most of his opponents.  He must however be credited fortouring and campaigning in all the 23 LGAâ's in the state following hisdeclaration as the Action Congress of Nigeria candidate and for ensuring thatACN fields candidates in all the elective offices in the State. How this actionwould metamorphose into votes come Election Day, remains to be seenparticularly considering his new idea of security which he presented whilepresenting his manifesto to the people of Rivers State that he will make them sleepwith their two eyes opened indicating he may resurrect the insecuritywhich Gov Amaechi have done much to stop. How he intends to make fellow humanbeings to be sleeping while their eyes are opened is a new subject forscholars!

 

For Sir CelestineOmehia the APGA Candidate who many regard as a gentleman per excellence, muchcan be said for this humane and amiable fellow. Although he is facing somefinancial challenges with a party lacking any substantial root in the State, hehas his past records as one time Commissioner for Education and five months ofGovernor of Rivers State to stand him in good stead though in the eyes of thelaw he never served as Governor since the Supreme Court voided his election forbeing an illegal PDP Flag Bearer in the 2007 gubernatorial election in RiversState. His new party APGA has only offices in about three or four LocalGovernment Areas out of the 23 LGAs in Rivers State,how this can make anybody a Governor is to be determined by 26thApril, 2011. Be that as it may, I will take time to look at the scenario whenhe held forte as the Chief Executive of Rivers State whether illegal orotherwise from May 29th, 2007 to October, 2007 and allow the readerto pass judgment.

 

During the eight yearsof the Odiliâ's Administration and the ill-fated period of Omehiaâ's tenure agood drive along most streets of the Port Harcourtcity by then became an expensive exercise and a nightmare due to the giantpotholes that were evident along most streets in Port Harcourt. There was massiveinfrastructural decay. Pupils and students were made to study under harshcondition at times sitting under the bare floor to study. The Hospitals weremere consulting institutions and the workforce zeal was at the lowest ebb.

 

According to records, Port Harcourt thatAmaechi inherited from Omehia apart from having curfew as part of its lifestyle the city was more like a war zone or rather a jungle where the fittestdetermine the fate of the lesser animals. It sounds pretty surprising but not unexpectedthat the city of Port Harcourt,a once very glamorous city, was ranked among the three most dangerous cities inthe world under the watch of Sir Celestine Omehia. The human resources unit ofNew York-based Marsh & McLennan Cos. had ranked Port Harcourtwith Baghdad, Yemen'scapital of Sana'a and Khartoum in Sudan, as theworld's most dangerous cities. Going by the ranking published by Bloomberg, Port Harcourt ranked with Baghdad as one of the world's most dangerouscities for foreign workers as criminal gangs and guerrillas seeking greatercontrol of energy revenue step up attacks.

 

Mr. Ahamefula Ogbu aJournalist with Thisday Newspapers one of the leading Newspapers in Nigeriadescribed one of the scenes in the State at this period in these words 'Rambocould not have done better. With automatic rifles in their hands and hate,revenge and murder hanging around their necks, warring cultists took Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by storm yesterdayfor the second day running. Pandemonium broke out as residents ran for safety.It was sorrow, tears and blood. At the end of it all—or, more aptly, at theinterval, for no one knows the end yet—15 persons had been dispatched to theirearly graves' and true to this unsung prophet nobody knew the end as the next fewdays saw about eighty innocent souls wasted by an agitation uncommon to ourpeople in the Niger Delta.

 

Okey Ndibe a respectedopinion on national issues in Nigeria in his  article during this periodpublished in the Sahara Reporters one of the leading internet websites onNigerian political activities titled 'a blood soaked city' described thehappenings in Rivers State  then in these words 'That the once idyllicPort Harcourt was now a scarred place, a war zone, a city soaked in blood; thecity under siege with thousands of citizens displaced; that its once quiescentboulevards and avenues were now ruled by marauding militiamen and by the fiercesoldiers deployed to dislodge them. Sudden death by bullet was now ageneralized hazard for the city's trapped and hapless residents'.

 

Contributing, ChiefEdwin Kiagbodo Clark an elder statesman and a onetime Federal Minister ofInformation in the first Republic advocated that the only solution to thelingering security crisis in Rivers State 'I implored President Umaru MusaYar'Adua not to dilly-dally in imposing a state of emergency on Rivers State,doing so would be tantamount to postponing the evil day' He continued 'Omehiawas not fit to be governor of Rivers State in fact he is a major part of theproblem and an unserious and insensitive personality; where is the seriousnessin Omehia? If he is a serious governor or politician, why should he abandon Rivers Statewhen the state was still boiling to go and take part in a birthday bash in Abuja for his godfather,Peter Odili? We can't fold our hands as elders, and continue watching thesituation degenerate.'

 

Then came Rt. Hon.Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the Flag-Bearer of PDP  referred in some quartersas a developmental magician to rescue Rivers State and make the haven ofdevelopment and peace it has become since then, a man whose drive and passiontowards rebuilding Rivers State to an exemplary State in Africa is legendary.The ironic thing about the coming into power of Amaechi at a time when securityhad broken down in the state with no hope of being restored-a situation thatled the duo of Dr. Abiye Sekibo and Sir Celestine Omehia flee the State andbecame more or less refugees in Abuja the National Capital of Nigeria- was thatonce security was restored, these same gentlemen started coming back to thestate and chose the path of wresting power from the man who gave them theleeway to feel safe again. That is the irony of life and the politics of Rivers State.

 

To Rt. Hon. ChibuikeAmaechi, governing Rivers State is more of a divinemission where tomorrow does not exist. He seems to be in a hurry to accomplishso many things within a short period. I will not like to bore the reader withthe many projects the Governor has embarked upon as doing so will entail writinga book but I will in a summarized form highlight some in order to have thefeeling of what this young visionary has done to building the new Rivers Stateof his dream. After constituting his Cabinet with men and women of integrityand seeing the decay in infrastructure in the State he commenced his task byinitiating and signing into law, Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation AgencyBill No. 3 of 2008, Sustainable Development Amendment Bill No. 1 of 2008,procurement public bill, Saving Public Fund Bill and even bill excluding theoffice of the Governor from signing and awarding of contracts. With thesebills, the Governor gives an insight of the type of governance he intends tobequeath to the State – Governance imbedded in Accountability, service deliveryorientated and government by the people and for the greater Rivers State.According to Rt. Hon. Amaechi, ‘in order to lay a strong foundation forpositive change in governance in the State, the administration has taken itupon itself to initiate very critical bills on fiscal responsibility to theState House of Assembly and virtually all of which have been passed into lawand assented to by me. The Executive arm of government so far has credit forhaving at least 60 per cent of all bills passed by the House of Assembly,saying that virtually all the bills were designed to deal with the age longproblem of financial irresponsibility and rascality and as far as the existinglaws on fiscal responsibility are concerned, anyone in government who tries tohave an over sight of the due process mechanism in the State would surely runinto problems’.

 

With projects such asthe multi-billion naira Rumuwoji (Mile One) Market, the New Niger Hospital, the50-bed hospital located inside the Rivers State University of Science andTechnology (RSUST), Eleme Junction Fly-Over which all located within the statecapital and are already functional, pinning down the achievements of theGovernor to one main project is like looking for a pin in a haystack the reasonbeing that his strides cut across all sectors. In the area of education, theAmaechi-led Government has completely taken over the payment of salaries ofprimary school and junior school teachers, which was ab-initio theresponsibility of the local government councils. It costs the state governmentN800 million monthly to pay the salaries of the primary school teachers. Thegovernment is building 350 primary schools each of which has 20 classrooms andwill cost N3.1billion each. It is also building 23 secondary schools across the23 local government councils in the state. It is on record most of thesestructures are completed. The Governor knew what his mission is, “We knew thatthe problem of the state was basically education, the state of our quality ofeducation was abysmal and we knew that the quality can only improve if we takeover primary education”, the governor emphasized, as he expressed concern overwhat local government councils were doing with the money meant for that”.

 

The government iscurrently running free primary education with free books and uniform withprovisions of library and internet facilities for the primary schools. Thegovernment has acquired 150 hectres of land to relocate the premier University of Technologyin Nigeria;the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), to a bigger andbetter permanent site. The new site is expected to have facilities that willaccommodate no fewer than 50,000 students. The Rivers State Government has beenadjudged the best performing state in the Education sector within theSouth-South zone. In recognition of this the Federal Ministry of Education hasrewarded the state with the sum of N70 million for its performance. Due Processprocedure has been complied with in respect to the furnishing of the modelprimary schools as well as completed Health Centres, noting that they would befurnished soon.

 

Given the importanceof the health sector in any given community, the Amaechi administration hascompleted about 100 out of the 150 health centres being built by the stategovernment across the state at the cost of about N3billion. Each of the healthcentres will have ambulances and state-of-the-art medical equipment. About 200medical doctors have being recruited to man these hospitals.

 

However, due to thethreats of ocean surge and the loss of its lands to tidal waves and erosion,the state government decided to reclaim the lands first. The land reclamationexercise is going on in Buguma, Abalama. Also, Andoni while the landreclamation exercise in Opobo alone costs about N3billion. It is worthy of notethat the land being reclaimed in Opobo is bigger than Opobo town itself thatmade Hon. Chief Dakuku Peterside the erstwhile Commissioner of Works and thenext member representing Opobo/Nkoro/Andoni Federal Constituency in the 6thNational Assembly to describe Gov Amaechi as the Founder of the new Opobo afterthe famous King Jaja of Opobo who founded the old Opobo based on the landmassGov Amaechi has singlehandedly reclaimed for the people of Opobo.

 

Already, 376communities across the state have been electrified. Based on his promise toconsolidate on the power programmes of his predecessor, Governor Amaechi hasordered for additional equipments and contracted expert vendors for thecompletion of the moribund turbines such as Trans-Amadi Gas Turbine and ElemeGas Turbine projects for effective power supply in the state. Also, additionalfeeder stations are being completed in places hitherto without powersupply.

 

The former SSG Mr. AbeMagnus and the Senatorial Candidate of PDP in the South East senatorial zoneexpanding on the vision of this administration stated, “As part of its tenurestrategy, this Government sees the whole of Rivers state as one big family inneed of urgent attention. The onus is on us as a responsible government toensure the provision of basic infrastructure in every community in the stateirrespective of whether they have representation in the State Cabinet or not”.

 

President GoodluckJonathan in one of his official visits to the State eulogized the Governor ofRivers State over his vision in the choice of projects that impacted positivelyon the people. President Jonathan hinted that the several road networksembarked upon by the Rivers State Government and the Monorail transport systemplanned by the government has significantly shown that the state is movingahead, “beside the road network, I want to commend Governor Amaechi on thethree major projects, the quality of Primary and Secondary Schools that we saw,as well as the Power Project that would aid Small Business Enterprises.

 

Amaechiâ'sAdministration has hosted major events to sell Rivers State to the outsideworld than all the States in the Federation put together – he hosted the IONFilm Festival where the world best Film Producers were feted with thehospitality of Rivers State, he hosted Miss ECOWAS Pageant, Garden CityLiterary Festival, the recent concluded Guild of Editors, Commonwealth WomenParliamentarians (CWP), a trade delegation from the Economic Community of WestAfrican States (ECOWAS) on an enlighten mission for private companies withinthe South-South zone on how to access business opportunities available withinthe ECOWAS sub-region among many other major events hosted by the Rivers StateGovernment.

 

The Deputy Speaker ofUgandan Parliament and Chairperson of CWP Hon Rebecca Kadaga, lauded thedevelopmental efforts and policies of Governor Amaechi especially those gearedtowards improving the lot of children and women, saying that the issues alreadycanvassed confirm that what the CWP was set to achieve are already in place inRivers State.

 

In blazing the TownHall Meeting trail in the state, he has eschewed the myth of a hidden agenda,by offering himself up for scrutiny, and by so doing showing transparency ingovernment and according to the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF A field, Enugu,Mrs. Pelucy Ntambirweki, I am delight on the state governmentâ's town hallmeeting initiative as it promotes transparency, accountability andinclusiveness of the populace’’ in the State. The Governor of Rivers State, RtHon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, said the town hall meetings and provision ofneeded projects and infrastructure were not geared towards popularizing him butdesigned by government to be abreast of the views of the people of the state toachieve effective governance,

 

The Governor notimpressed with all the kudos to him stated, “in fact, said it is theresponsibility of government to provide social amenities for the people of thestate, that it was wrong for the masses to dance and rejoice over the existenceof a particular social infrastructure, that the people who voted them intopower deserved the best.”

 

He stands as the onlyAfrican Leader to have constructed sixty physical projects and donated the sameto sixty communities in sixty days that earned him the name of a magician! His astute leadership in striving for financial transparency,accountability and inclusive governance has earned the State a lot ofaccolades, numerous awards and recognition by international bodies andcorporations. 1.  He emerged Leadership Newspaperâ's Governor of the year –2009. 2.  The Sun Newspaper Man of the Year Award in 2007. 3. The CompassNewspaper Award for Security in 2008. 4. Recipient of the prestigious 2010 ZikPrize for Good Governance based on his performance in the implementation ofcredible governance principles. This enviable award was bestowed on the RiversState Governor for his ability to attract a B+/AA Fitch investment rating tothe state, boost economic and structural development as well as enhance contentdevelopment in all sectors of Rivers State. 5. Bestowed the ThisDay 2010 award “Change Makers in Governance Award” in recognition of thecourageous measures implemented to bring about lasting changes and stability tothe areas of governance in Rivers State. All this simplyshows that he is a performer and an achiever and after a critical analysis ofprojects, policies and legislation brought about by the Amaechi administration,the need of supporting this visionary and great mind in the onerous task ofgoverning a complex State like Rivers State become imperative.

 

Prince TonyePrincewill erstwhile AC gubernatorial candidate of Rivers State in 2007 andwhose political credentials stands him as the only capable and credibleaspirant that could have given Amaechi a run for his money buried hisgubernatorial ambition in order to allow Gov Aamechi to complete and continuewith his good deeds in Rivers State, according to him, “let it be my ownsacrifice in order to move our State forward”.

 

To Chief Sgt Awuse onetime gubernatorial candidate in the State and the acclaimed political bulldozerof Rivers State and one of the most viable, vibrant and strong rallying pointof opposition in the State acknowledge the visionary leadership of Gov Amaechiand openly declare his support for his second term bid, urging all Riversresidents to Vote for Amaechi. According to Awuse, Amaechiâ's achievements inthree short years have clearly stood him out as the only and most qualifiedcandidate for the Brick House.

 

To Professor Tam DavidWest a nationalist and a respected statesman while addressing the mammoth crowdduring the Bugma rally spoke glowingly of Amaechiâ's achievement, he stated thatanyone who claimed that Amaechi had not done anything in the state was “blinderthan a bat”. He went on to say Amaechiâ's opponents could be likened to“hamburgers without the beef” in other words they lacked the substance forleadership. He went on to add that he would support Amaechi with the “last dropof his pen and the last drop of his blood”. Singling out governor Fashola ofLagos state as another governor in the same league as Amaechi, he was quick toadd that whereas Fashola had the privilege of building on legacies left by theJakande and Tinubu administrations; Amaechi on the other hand started hisadministration from scratch. He received rapturous applause from the crowd whenhe stated emphatically that angel Gabriel had already sworn in Amaechi and thatthe election day is a mere formality similar to signing the dotted lines at amarriage, stating that any attempt to derail the process will be resisted andsuch as wont to do so will be bulldozed by the pen or by action.

 

Both traditional rulers and stakeholders from Kirike andAbuloma extractions of Okrika Kingdom of Rivers State where Dr. Abiye Sekibohails from have on behalf of their people declared their total support for there-election bid of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, in view of what theydescribed as his five star performance as Governor of the state. Thetraditional rulers, who pledged their total support for the candidature ofGovernor Amaechi in two separate solidarity visits led by HRH Emmanuel Obudibo,the Amanyanabo of Ogoloma and Chief Dr Bernard Aprioku Okome, told him that theirsupport stems from the genuine peace the governor has brought to Okrika Kingdomsince 2008.

 

To Chief Hon. BarEzebuwo Nyesom Wike, the Director General of the Re-election Campaign of GovAmaechi,  “The State is in danger if Gov Amaechi fails to come back for asecond tenure as most of the initiatives we have set up to take this State to anew height will be deconstructed”. Furthermore, he stated that the anti-peoplesentiments exhibited by the likes of Dr. Abiye Sekibo, who whilst presentinghis manifesto to the people of the State, stated that one of the objectives ofhis government if elected will be to restore the land acquired so far for theGreater Port Harcourt City to their owners whereby aborting the development ofa new City in the State; aborting the monorail project etc. such ideasaccording to wike should never see the light of day if we don’t work hard.

 

This treatise cannot be concluded without hearing from twomen who have worked closely with this great trio. Former Gov of Rivers StateChief Rufus Ada-George who had Dr Peter Odili as his Deputy with Sir CelestineOmehia as his Commissioner for Education with Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi as hisSpecial Assistant while Dr Sekibo was one of the inner circle members of thatAdministration, “Look, Chief Eze if anybody should be in position to speakabout these three sons of our State I should be the one because they haveworked under me very closely. Yes, Gov Aamechi out of the three not minding therole that I have played in their lives was the only that considered it wise toinform me of his intention to govern the State. Though that is not the issue,the issue is that I was to appoint Amaechi as my Commissioner for Education in1992 but this young man visited me and said, sir, I will prefer you to appointmy cousin, Sir Celestine Omehia who is older than me as a Commissioner insteadof me as I still have age on my side since then my respect and love for thisyoung man know no bounds. This step shows the selfless person that Amaechi isas I later appointed him my Special Assistant on Education. I have watched thethree and if Rivers State people want avisionary, committed and focussed leader then Amaechi is their man”.

 

 

Another person is Engr Tele Ikuru who was the Commissionerfor Housing and Urban Development under the administration of Sir Dr. PeterOdili and served as Deputy Governor both under the short lived administrationof Sir Celestine Omehia and that of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi. He stated, “Eze,on a very serious note if anybody must speak and select for the people ofRivers State who their next Governor should be then I must be the personbecause I have not only worked closely with this trio but I have monitored themvery closely as their friend. Dr. Seikbo was the SSG while I was theCommissioner for Housing, I have served both Sir Celestine Omehia and GovAmaechi as their Deputy Governor and I can comfortably stated that both Omehiaand Sekibo does not have the liver to govern Rivers State at this period of ourhistory. If we must move forward then give it to Amaechi”.

Let me conclude thispiece by quoting a great Philosopher and the 2011 ANPP Presidential Candidateduring the Presidential debate anchored by NN24, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau,“Every Nigerian aspires to have good governance. There are six globallyaccepted standards of good governance which are agreed upon by the World Bankand the United Nations. Number One: Voice and Accountability; Number Two:Political Stability; Number Three: Effectiveness in Governance; Number Four: RegulatoryControl; Number Five: Rule of Law and Number Six: Control of corruption so ifyou want good governance, my advice to you is look at these characteristics whoamong the candidates considering his past and antecedents can guarantee thesatisfaction of these six standards of good governance whosoever it is betweenyou and your Almighty God, vote for him”. In my summation therefore I urge youthat whosoever among Dr. Abiye Sekibo. Sir Celestine Omehia and Rt. Hon.Chibuike Amaechi that you find worthy you vote for come April 26th2011.

 

Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze is a Media Consultant based in Port Harcourt

 

ezemediaconcept08@rocketmail.com,mediaconsultanttpcorivers07261@gmail.com,08038199163