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Rerun Polls Favour PDP Candidates …As Rivers Voters Count Losses Under Amaechi Govt
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sotonye Wakama (left), in a chat with Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC, Rivers State, Aniedi-Ikoiwak, during an accord meeting with politicians and candidates for the 19th March rerun election on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.
As the Rivers electorate go to the polls tomorrow for the Appeal Court-ordered rerun elections into both the National and some state Assemblies public opinion weigh heavily in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates.
Exit polls conducted by The Tide shows that 89 per cent of civil servants do not want to have anything to do with any candidate of All Progresses Congress (APC) who worked under the administration of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi.
Nearly all 200 respondents polled said the candidates on the platform of the APC were with Amaechi when the government in preference for politics spent state resources on party activities at the expense of three months workers pay and about five months retirees benefits.
Such insensitivity they said, did not present the candidates as persons capable of representing the people’s interest.
The non-payment of workers affected trade and commerce , Rivers being a predominantly civil service state, as market women and other small enterprises owners groomed for lack of businesses.
Appolus Nna, a fisherman who supplies fish to traders at the dry fish market along Creek Road, said those final months of the Amaechi government were hell for him and his colleagues.
“Fish that we would normally sell for N10,000 was priced N3,000 by buyers who complained of lack of funds on account of poor business”.
Madam Oberenisiki Appolous, a trader explained that most of their customers bought their wares on credit promising to pay as soon as their salaries were paid. “But it dragged on from one to three months until the administration of Chief Nyesom Wike cleared the arrears and brought our business back on track”.
A retiree, Pa Abednego Berthwell said it would amount to madness for anyone to vote any enemy of his progress to govern him.
“A government that abandoned retirees, indeed senior citizens to die of hunger for more than five months does not have any moral justification to meet the same people for their votes” Berthwell said.
According to him, many retirees who couldn’t endure the five months starvation lost their lives. “will the children of such parents be foolish enough to still elect such sadists? he wondered.
Ironically, what APC failed to do was what the new Wike Administration did, and which endeared the PDP even more to the Rivers electorates.
Frank Udom, a commercial bus driver said the single fact that the new government broke the jinx of using rain as excuse and upgrade many hitherto impassable roads marks it out as a people-oriented government.
“Before the roads repair, nothing would make me to load passengers going to Borikiri and New Road areas because of the state of the road and long queues. Today, that road is my goldmine” Udom said.
Infact, go to the Isaac Boro Flyover area, opposite The Tide office, along 4 Ikwerre Road, even former Governor Amaechi would not believe that such transformation could occur with the years old big gully that nearly cut the road into two impassable parts.
“What of the UTC junction? At lest Amaechi used to use that part of Port Harcourt while he was governor. Can he not tell the difference,” Udoh wondered.
According to him, most of his colleagues plying other parts of the state also speak well of the government on road construction. Areas which they used to avoid as no-go areas are now goldmine commercial routes, Udoh further explained.
From Ogu/Bolo Local Government Areas, Mr Longinus Gad, a youth leader said he was wondering what the APC candidates would give Rivers people as reasons why they should be voted.
“I was proved right, because they had nothing, they did not bother to campaign. They instead, relied on the Transport Minister and former Governor Rotimi Amaechi to resort to threats of using soldiers to intimidate Rivers people, Mr Gad said.
“The Rivers Youth, Mr Gad said can no longer be exploited as thugs during elections and labeled cult boys thereafter and abandoned or killed”, Gad said and assured that the electorate would vote according to their conscience and based on facts on ground.
However, an APC ward officer, Mr Dere Ishmeal said his party’s candidates will win not just because of the former government achievements but because the party enjoys Federal support and protection of armed security to carry the day.
“APC too will win, after all PDP won when they were in power at the federal level, Dere opined.
Apart from that and very few respondents, virtually all are unanimous that the Court of Appeal judgement that annulled the valid election of the people’s elected representatives was a waste of time and resources.
This is because, according to them, Rivers people are prepared to defend their votes in favour of those who stood beside Governor Wike to pay workers salary arrears, repaired and constructed roads, renovated abandoned schools, built bridges and restored the judiciary’s pride of place, among many other achievements.
Our Correspondent
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an official State visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
Upon arrival yesterday, Shettima was received at the airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dr. Gedion Timothewos, and other members of the Ethiopian and Nigerian diplomatic corps.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement he signed yesterday, titled: “VP Shettima arrives in Ethiopia for official state visit.”
During the visit, Vice President Shettima will participate in the official launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Programme, a flagship environmental initiative.
The programme designed to combat deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change targets the planting of 20 billion tree seedlings over a four-year period.
In line with strengthening bilateral ties in agriculture and industrial development, the Vice President will also embark on a strategic tour of key industrial zones and integrated agricultural facilities across selected regions of Ethiopia.
News
RSG Tasks Farmers On N4bn Agric Loan ….As RAAMP Takes Sensitization Campaign To Four LGs In Rivers
The Rivers State Government has called on the people of the state especially farmers to access the ?4billion agricultural loans made available by the State and domiciled in the Bank of Industry.
This is as the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank project, took its sensitization campaign to Opobo/Nkoro, Andoni, Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas.
The campaign was aimed at enlightening community dwellers and other stakeholders in the various local government areas on the RAAMP project implementation and programme activities.
The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this at Opobo town, Ngo, Port Harcourt City and Rumuodumanya, headquarters of the four local government areas respectively, during the sensitization campaign.
Ogolo said apart from the ?4billion, the government has also made available fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers in the various local government areas.
The Permanent Secretary who is the Chairman, State Steering Committee for the project, said RAAMP will construct roads that will connect farms to markets to enable farmers and fishermen sell their farms produce and fishes.
He also said rural roads would be constructed to farms and fishing settlements, and warned against any act that will lead to the cancellation of the projects in the four local government areas.
According to him, the World Bank and Federal Government which are the financiers of the programme will not condone such acts like kidnapping, marching ground and other acts inimical to the successful implementation of the projects in their respective areas.
At PHALGA, Ogolo asserted that the city will benefit in the areas of roads and bridge construction.
He noted that RAAMP was thriving in both the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Lagos and other states in the country, stressing that the project should also be given the seriousness it deserves in Rivers State.
Speaking at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, the project coordinator, RAAMP, Mr.Joshua Kpakol, said the programme would reduce poverty in the state.
According to him, both fishermen and farmers will maximally benefit from the programme.
At Ngo which is the headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area, Kpakol said roads will be constructed to all remote fishing settlements.
He said Rivers State is lucky to be among the states implementing the project, and stressed the need for the people to embrace it.
Meanwhile, Kpakol said at PHALGA that RAAMP is a project that will transform the lives of farmers, traders and other stakeholders in the area.
He urged the stakeholders to spread the information to their various communities.
However, some of the stakeholders at Opobo town complained about the destruction of their farms by bulls allegedly owed by traditional rulers in the area, as well as incessant stealing of their canoes at waterfronts.
At Ngo, Archbishop Elkanah Hanson, founder of El-Shaddai Church, commended the World Bank and the Federal Government for bringing the projects to Andoni.
He stressed the need for the construction of roads to fishing settlements in the area.
Also, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state and Okan Ama of Ekede, HRH King Gad Harry, noted that storage facilities have become necessary for a successful agricultural programme.
Harry also stressed the need for the programme to be made sustainable.
In their separate speeches, the administrators of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas, pledged their readiness to support the programme.
At Port Harcourt City, the Administrator, Dr Arthur Kalagbor, represented by the Head of Local Government Administration, Port Harcourt City, Mr Clifford Paul, said the city would support the implementation of the programme in the area.
Also, the administrator of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Clifford Ndu Walter, represented by Mr Michael Elenwo, pledged to support the programme in his local government area.
Among dignitaries at the Obio/Akpor stakeholders engagement is the chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council and paramount ruler of Apara Kingdom, HRM Eze Chike Wodo, amongst others.
John Bibor
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the commencement of personnel audit and skill gap analysis across all cadres of federal civil servants.
The president gave this directive in Abuja, yesterday, while speaking at the International Civil Service Conference, reaffirming his resolve to achieve efficiency and professional service delivery in the civil service.
“I have authorized the comprehensive personnel audit and skill gap analysis across the federal civil service to deepen capacity. I urge all responsible stakeholders to prioritize timely completion of this critical exercise, to begin implementing targeted reforms, to realize the full benefit of a more agile, competent and responsive civil service,” the president announced.
Tinubu further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to prioritise data integrity and sovereignty in national interest.
He called for the capture, protection and strategic publication of public sector data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023.
“We must let our data speak for us. We must publish verified data assets within Nigeria and share them internationally recognized as fruitful. This will allow global benchmarking organisation to track our progress in real time and help us strengthen our position on the world stage. This will preserve privacy and uphold data sovereignty,” Tinubu added.
President Tinubu hailed the federal civil service as the “engine” driving his Renewed Hope Agenda, and the vehicle for delivering sustainable national development.
He submitted that the roles of civil servants remain indispensable in modern governance, declaring that in the face of a fast-evolving digital and economic landscape, the civil service must remain agile, future-ready, and results-driven.
“This maiden conference is a bold step toward redefining governance in an era of rapid transformation. An innovative Civil Service ensures we meet today’s needs and overcome tomorrow’s challenges.
“It captures our collective ambition to reimagine and reposition the civil service. In today’s rapid, evolving world of technology, innovation remains critical in ensuring that the civil service is dynamic, digital” the President said.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack in her welcome address told the President that his presence and strong words of commendation at the conference has renewed the morale and mandate of public servants across the country.
Walson-Jack described Tinubu as the backbone of driving transformation in the Nigerian civil service, and noted that the takeaways from past study tours undertaken to understudy the civil service in Singapore, the UK and US under her leadership, is already yielding multiplier effects.
Walson-Jack assured Tinubu that her office, in collaboration with reform-minded stakeholders, will not relent in accelerating the implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, FCSSIP 25.
She affirmed that digitalisation, performance management, and continuous learning remain key pillars in strengthening accountability, transparency, and service delivery across MDAs.
Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the civil service is determined to exceed expectations by embedding a culture of innovation, ethical leadership, and citizen-centred governance in the heart of public administration.