From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, Magnus Abe, has declared that, as long as governance in concerned, decisions would be taken in Rivers’ interest, if elected in 2023.
Abe made the assertion at the unveiling of his deputy, Dr (Mrs) Patricia Ogbonnaya, and Director-General of his campaign, Senator Asinobi Ake, in Port Harcourt.
The former senator representing Rivers South East senatorial district disclosed that the party (SDP) decided to choose a female deputy candidate from Ekpeye Kingdom for fairness and equity.
“When we begin to call people by name, everybody will know that at some point or the other, there own name would be called. But, when you begin to say upland, riverine, you begin to justify things that are not justifiable,” Senator Abe said.
“If you come to Rivers South East senatorial district, an Opobo man had been deputy governor in the name of riverine; an Andoni man had been deputy governor in the name of riverine; an Andoni man has been speaker (House of Assembly) in the name of riverine.
“Now, if governorship candidate comes from Opobo, again in the name of riverine; but, no Ogoni man has gotten anything. The Ndoki man is there; and other groups and tribes within that senatorial district. If you don’t ever call their names, you will continue to miss them out. That will not bring peace.
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“In the new Rivers State that we want to build, every group that can identify themselves, that have their own culture, their own language, their own ethnicity, must be remembered. The Etche man must be remembered. The Ekpeye man must be remembered. The Ogba man must be remembered. The Kalabari man must be remembered. We will call each other by the name.
“The second thing I would say is that once we started that process, we decided that we would not choose somebody of our own. The other thing we would like to do in the new Rivers State is that people would be allowed to bring out their own leaders. This is because, when people bring out the person they know, and they have confidence in the person, a leader that has contributed greatly to the development of the community, they can follow him through difficult times.
“You can take difficult decisions because the people have confidence in that leadership. But, if you go and handpick people because you know them, some of those people may not be the way the community knows them, may not be the way they see them.
“So, we decided to consult with different people. And everywhere we spoke to the leaders of Ekpeye including those that are with us, her name continued to feature prominently.”
National Chairman of the SDP Shehu Gabam has commended the party fateful in Rivers State, for the support they have given support to the leadership and governorship candidate, Abe.
Gabam, who spoke at the unveiling through the National Vice Chairman, South-South, Fred Awotorufa, urged the mammoth crowd to be translated to reality during the election in 2023.
He appealed to the members to work together as a family and as team, such that, the people on the other side would find difficult to penetrate them.
The national chairman said the qualifications of the deputy governorship candidate showed the party was determined to take over the leadership of the state.
State chairman of the party Mr Sensei Osaro said the unveiling of the deputy governorship candidate marked a significant process in the state politics.
The party chairman commended Abe for choosing a woman of pedigree and an administrator par excellence, who retired as permanent secretary in the state civil service, as a running mate.
He urged the party members and supporters to stand firm and contribute their quota for the success of the party in 2023 elections.