RIVERS MAINSTREAM COALITION (UNIFICATION FORCE) OUR POSITION ON 2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND THE LINGERING RIVERS STATE POLITICAL CRISES. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”…. Edmund Burke INTRODUCTION Rivers Mainstream Coalition is a body of senior politicians and professionals in Rivers State drawn across political party lines to propagate justice in the polity and promote unity in Rivers State and Nigeria. Our vision is to build a strong coalition of mainstream politicians to ensure the emergence of a truly popular government in Rivers State and a pan-Nigerian President in the country in 2015 and beyond. Rivers Mainstream Coalition is totally unconnected with and abhors the on-going politics of violence and treachery in Rivers State because our mission is to promote the socio-political advancement of Rivers State, Niger Delta and Nigeria. Rivers Mainstream Coalition in a strategic meeting held on Tuesday 8 October 2013, resolved to congratulate President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR on his inauguration of the Advisory Committee on National Dialogue. Rivers Mainstream Coalition is elated by the President’s vision and calls on Nigerians to take full advantage of the National Dialogue to address salient national questions and unambiguously spell out a roadmap that shall lead to a strong, united and indivisible Federal Republic of Nigeria where justice, unity and peace reign. Rivers Mainstream Coalition also reviewed recent political issues in Rivers State within the Nigerian political context and came up with the following positions: RIVERS STATE, PRESIDENT JONATHAN AND 2015 Rivers Mainstream Coalition observes that some Nigerian politicians, who swore to make the country ungovernable should President Goodluck Jonathan win the 2011 presidential election, have indeed kept to their words. We are scandalized by the brass and spiteful action of a handful of northern politicians and their Yoruba collaborators to stampede President Goodluck Jonathan out of office in 2015. We are worried about the deliberate denigration of the person and office of the President by people who have refused to see anything good in his administration despite its unprecedented achievements. We are particularly outraged by Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s pretentions about his ability to decide President Jonathan’s political fate in Rivers State. It is on record that as a centrist state, Rivers State gave one of the highest votes to Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979, Chief MKO Abiola in 1993, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 and Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. Where then rests the self-acclaimed phenomenal input to President Jonathan’s victory by Governor Amaechi? - A routine contribution of Rivers people to all pan-Nigerian Presidential candidates. It is obvious that the position of Rivers State on who becomes the President of Nigeria is determined by the desire to support strength and pan-Nigerianism. This trend is not about to change in 2015. Let us remind our northern brothers and sisters that the bulk of the area now referred to as the South-South supported to the very end the leadership of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa and Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the first and second republics. We remind our Yoruba brothers and sisters that the South-South voted massively for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 even when they (Yorubas) rejected him and when they made a U-turn to embrace Obasanjo in 2003, the South-South stood with them and supported Obasanjo to the very end. This is in addition to the massive support for Chief M.K.O Abiola in 1993. What right would the north and the west have to again be President over us if they refuse to support our son to peacefully complete his constitutionally allowed two terms in office? It is our position that Nigeria’s diversity and cultural multiplicity require that until we achieve national integration the presidency of the country should fairly rotate among the six political zones as it could never be possible that there would be no person good enough for the office of President at any point in time from any political zone. THE LINGERING RIVERS STATE POLITICAL CONFLICT Rivers Mainstream Coalition has watched with indignation how Rivers State has been turned in recent times into an enclave of political treachery, violence and blackmail by a handful of self-seeking politicians. Rivers people have been betrayed and misrepresented by politicians who were elected to protect the interest of the state but whose actions and utterances have instead subjected Rivers State to national ridicule and opened the doors of the State to political scavengers and intruders. Never has Rivers State since its creation in 1967 been so betrayed and misrepresented. The frightful consequences of these crises are visible to see and thick enough to feel by those who care and still mean well for our dear Rivers State. The atmosphere of distrust is thickening and Rivers people must stand up as compatriots to stop this dangerous drift. Contrary to the general perception, the actual cause of the lingering Rivers state political crises was not due to Governor Amaechi’s position as the former Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum or his ambition to be Vice President in 2015. The crises came about as a result of reactions to Governor Amaechi’s betrayal of his political associates who stood by him during the infamous K-leg saga of 2007 and during his re-election in 2011. The raging political inferno was ignited by the internal contradictions within the governor’s political machinery caused primarily by the governor’s ingratitude to his associates and his ambition to retain hegemonic control of Rivers State beyond 2015. The national political colourations given to the Rivers crises and the tactics of treachery and blackmail adopted by the governor are mere camouflage and simulations to blackmailing the President and the PDP into granting him political control beyond 2015. The Governor’s actions portray him as someone who does not know the sacrifices made by the founding fathers of Rivers State and needs to be told that the State was created out of the struggle, sweat and blood of our founding fathers. (We refer the governor to A.K Horsfall on the creation of Rivers State in Independent Monitor Newspaper of September 9, 2013 page 7). It is in this respect therefore, that Rivers Mainstream Coalition unequivocally condemns the show of shame that took place on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly. That beastly act was senseless, reckless and indefensible and does not represent the image of the good people of Rivers State. The brazen deployment of crude brutality and the unleashing of physical violence on the floor of the Assembly clearly capture the depth of anguish Rivers people have suffered in the hands of the governor and his supporters. Rivers Mainstream Coalition condemns Governor Amaechi’s enchantment for promoting an atmosphere of distrust and disunity in Rivers State and Nigeria through his acts of unnecessary confrontation, disrespect for higher authorities, insulting of elders/traditional rulers, stubbornness and outright trouble-making. We totally dissociate Rivers State from Governor Amaechi’s disrespectful actions against the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr. Goodluck Jonathan GCFR and his amiable wife Dr. Patience Jonathan who is a worthy daughter of Rivers State. DISPUTE OVER RIVERS STATE PDP EXCO Until recently, the Governor of Rivers State can be said to be the most powerful governor in Nigeria because apart from controlling the coffers of one of the richest states, the governor wielded absolute control over the ruling political party, controlled the use of the police force in addition to being the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum. (The Governor of Governors and alternate President) The Governor through the party dictated who got elected as councilor; local government chairman; member of State House of Assembly; member of the House of Representatives and Senate. The Governor appointed members of the State Executive Council; nominated Federal Ministers; dictated who became the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and decided who is appointed the Chief Judge of the State High Court. This is absolute power which is now being extended through the NGF to hire and fire the President. – What does this portend for Nigerian’s democracy and political party leadership? The Governor in 2011 singlehandedly converted almost all the members of the State Executive Council into members of the current House of Representatives and the Senate. The court ruling that ousted the Chief G.U. Ake led Executive Committee was therefore an act of God to liberate Rivers people, and the Governor has gone berserk since he lost the abusive use of the police in the state and lost the control of the PDP State Executive Committee. The Rivers Mainstream Coalition urges PDP members in Rivers state to support the Chief Felix Obuah led Executive Committee as the only legitimate Executive Committee of the party in the State. The clamour by the G7 rebel governors that the party machinery be returned to the governor is completely undemocratic, illegitimate and therefore should be discountenanced. The Chief Felix Obuah led PDP Executive and leaders of other political parties in Rivers state should be transparently democratic and resist the temptation to allow any individual or group of individuals to again use the parties to insult the sensibilities of Rivers people. They should involve their party members in decision making at the ward, local government and state levels. CONCLUSION Rivers Mainstream Coalition calls on Rivers people to unite and resist evil politicians who contrive political violence in order to take undue advantages of the electorate. Rivers Mainstream Coalition reminds Governor Amaechi that Rivers people did not elect him to spend all his time and the state resources in the NGF (an unconstitutional body). We remind the governor that our mandate to him does not include waging a hate campaign against the President, the Nigerian Police and the national leadership of his party. As a matter of fact, we see the insistence by the G7 rebel governors to remove the national Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as a show of shame because of their inability to “pocket” him -- of course Tukur is a man of means. Rivers Mainstream Coalition without undermining the outcome of the proposed National Conference calls on the North and the West and indeed all Nigerians to support President Jonathan in 2015. This will further unite Nigeria and discourage the bid by a few self-seeking politicians to weaken the bond that has held us together. Rivers Mainstream Coalition in all honesty believes that President Jonathan has performed creditably. We are therefore determined to work with patriotic groups (across party lines all over Nigeria) to give the President the highest votes again in 2015. Long Live Rivers State Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed Prof. Victor Omuaru Barrister James Amadi Dokubo Captain-Briggs Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 22:16:23 +0000
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