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By Joel Anekwe, Port Harcourt
The minister of Transportation and leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has charged the people of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area to hold their chiefs responsible if the party fails to win the governorship seat in 2019.
This was as the state chapter of the APC recently inaugurated the LGA and ward coordinators of the Free Rivers Development Initiative, Opobo/Nkoro chapter, a grassroots political mobilisation group, styled in the mode of the People’s Democratic Party’s Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI), which provided a strong political structure for incumbent governor, Chief Nyesom Wike’s emergence in 2015.
Speaking at the St. Paul Church, Sandfill, Opobo Town during the inauguration of the local government and ward executives of the Free Rivers Development Initiative, Amaechi noted that many of the prominent chiefs in the area were absent from the APC event in their area.
Amaechi, who though acknowledged the presence of some of the chiefs, said the absence of the majority was tantamount to disloyalty to the APC, charging them to hold the chiefs responsible if the party fails to produce a riverine governor in the 2019 general elections.
“Your chiefs have escaped, if you don’t get governorship of Rivers State, blame your chiefs. When Ikwerre people wanted the governorship, we were united. Whether you were from Emohua, Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt or Ikwerre we believed that it was our turn to get the governorship of Rivers State,” he said.
He also charged the people to demonstrate enough anger to bring about a change of administration in the state, saying they have not demonstrated enough discontent against the Nyesom Wike-led PDP government over the neglect of the riverine people.
He charged the coordinators to go house to house, ward to ward and local government by local government to mobilise supporters to vote out the PDP government in the 2019 general elections.
Amaechi who was also honoured by the people as the governor that provided the LGA with the most infrastructure development, commended them for the honour, adding that Opopo holds very historical importance to him as he was assisted by some prominent sons of the local government in his early years in life.
“When things were bad with me, extremely bad, Sam Sam Jaja was behind me,” he recounted as part of the reason for his closeness to Opobo people.
Earlier, Dr.Dakuku Peterside, the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Administration, (NIMASA) highlighted some of the reasons the people decided to honour him, adding that for a long time during his administration, Amaechi took up the challenge of the development of Opobo Nkoro local government.
Describing Amaechi as a symbol of development for Rivers State saying his government gave Opobo people more land more than any other government in the state adding that the field where the occasion was being held was part of the land he reclaimed from the sea for them during his tenure as governor.
Recounting some of his other achievements he said that Amaechi sent 27 sons and daughters of the local government abroad for studies and that since then no other person has benefited from the level of human capacity development from the local government in Wike administration and thanked the former governor on behalf of the people.
He added that for the first time under Amaechi’s government an Opobo son was appointed the commissioner for Works and the commissioner for finance saying that Amaechi believes that every Rivers man must be given the opportunity to participate in governance.
