From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Former member of the Senate, Senator Bennett Birabi, has urged the two political leaders in the Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike, of the People’s Democratic PDP (PDP) and Chibuike Amaech (All Progressives Congress, to zone the 2023 governorship tickets in their parties to candidates from Ogoni extraction.
Birabi said the call was important in the spirit of justice, fairness and equity, as other ethnic blocs in the state have produced governors, deputy governors, speakers and chief judge except the Ogoni bloc.
The fourth republic senator while briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt, urged the two political gladiators to pick any of their supporters from Ogoni extraction, to appease the people of 55years of neglect and marginalization.
He said the move was to draw the consciousness of Rivers people to the neglect and marginalization of Ogoni people in the state that they call their own for the past 55 years.
“I have called this press conference purposely to appeal to the two leaders of the two political parties in Rivers State, namely governor Nyesom Wike and Rotimi Amaechi, leaders of the PDP and APC respectively.
“My appeal is based on six fundamentals of justice, equity, fairness, reason, conscience and political morality. They are the authentic basis for any State or country to exist in peace, grow and develop.”
He said Ogoni has suffered a horribly devastating internal crisis resulting
“in the death of her prominent leaders and over a thousand young men and women in varying
circumstances, which resulted in pains and anger of that has persisted till date.
He lamented that every government in Rivers State instead of helping to heal the wounds, has taken advantage of our weakness and continued to water the seed of disunity and disinformation to keep Ogoni in perpetual subjugation almost to the level of political slavery.
“We don’t even decide who should represent us in any election or speak for us in our internal issues. Government decides.A nd to make matters worse, the present Government, has unwittingly further widened the divide by taking sides with one faction and turning
around to blame the entire race for not uniting when in fact the government is fueling the disunity. Unity has become the excuse for our marginalization.
“I want to ask the two political Party leaders, if unity was the criteria for concession of political power, how united was the Ikwerre tribe when Dr. Peter Odili handed over power to the Ikwerres? They were far from united
but he simply did it because it was expedient.
“Also at the national level, following the annulment of Abiola’s election and his subsequent death, the Federal government conceded the Presidency to the Yorubas and both Parties had to choose a candidate from the West amidst the obvious disunity in the West. It was not done because the Yorubas were united, it was done because it was expedient.”
He said in the 55) years of Rivers State, every political block, namely Ikwerre/Etche, Orashi, Kalabari, Igbani, Andoni, Okrika block has at one time or the other headed one or two or all three of the arms of the Government except the Ogoni
“Can I ask these two gentlemen who run the parties in Rivers State, “if you were from Ogoni, would you be happy to be called “fellow citizen(s) of Rivers State? This is a matter of conscience and I would like to know who in his right mind has the moral high ground to claim that Rivers State has been fair to all concerned.
“There must be someone amongst his minions from Ogoni that he can trust to continue the works he has started. Also, Governor Amaechi during his own tenure, mortgaged the whole Ogoni to one or two of his own Ogoni minions who were ready to lay down their lives for him.
“Will it not be also spiritually rewarding for him to reciprocate such loyalties for the Ogoni people? We agree that politics is a contest, but with the examples cited above and for the sake of equity, justice, fairness and political morality, I am appealing to the Rivers
People led by their political leaders in the two political parties to pick their next candidate from Ogoni.
“The choice should be at the discretion of the two political parties, who they think will best serve the Rivers people. If the issue of unity is still a problem, I thank God, Dr. Peter Odili is still alive, they may need to consult him on how to hand over government to a
disunited people.”
