2015: Support For Jonathan, Not Compulsory -Abe …As Ake Urges Rulers To Be Impartial

L-R: Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President Goodluck Jonathan, President, Bill Gate Foundation, Mr Bill Gate and IFAD President, Dr Kanayo Nwanze, at the 2nd meeting of the Presidential Eminent Persons Group on Nigeria’s Agriculture in New York last Monday

The Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe says the people of the South-South geo-political zone should not be forced to support the second term bid of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Abe, who spoke in Port Harcourt, last Monday, also said there was no need to heat up the polity ahead of 2015 general elections since there was freedom of association and choice of who to support under the constitution.
The lawmaker noted that those who believed that  President Jonathan should contest the 2015 general elections  and no other person from the South-South zone should vie with him in a democracy was wrong and not acceptable.
He disclosed that the ascendancy of the South-South zone was as a result of zoning arrangement and that the people of the region did not constitute majority in the country, hence, the need not to abuse the benefits.
The Senator, a former Commissioner and Secretary to the Rivers State Government berated those attacking Rivers State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi for not supporting the second term ambition of President Jonathan, explaining that while the President had the constitutional right to seek for a second term in office, Amaechi and others also had the constitutional right to support whoever they want to support.
“Those who acknowledge that the President has a constitutional right to contest must also acknowledge the constitutional right of others to support whoever they want to support or refuse to support who they don’t want to support. The constitution is for everybody,”. Sen. Abe declared.
”The best thing for us to do in this country, whether North, East, South, West or South-South, is to allow our politics to be driven by ideas. Those who feel strongly enough about something, regardless of where they come from must be allowed to canvass their opinions and express their feelings.”
The senator said Governor Amaechi remained a leading light in the country as a performer under our democracy, pointing out that his developmental strides would speak for him at the appropriate time.
He said; “Amaechi has already achieved a lot for Rivers people in different sectors. A leader with a focus and we would continue to support him under rain or sun. We must leave a legacy for the people of the state through the projects of this government.”
Meanwhile, with the ongoing political crises in Rivers State, traditional rulers have been advised to play impartial roles and keep off from acts that could undermine their roles as fathers for all. They have also been counselled against hob-nobbing with persons of dubious intent who ride on the crest of the current political turbulence in the state to desecrate the sanctity of the paramount stools some of which are as old as human civilisation.
Reacting to recent comments attributed to His Royal Majesty, Eze Chukumela Nnam Obi, 11, the Oba of Ogbaland, who hosted the leadership of the Grassroots Development Initiative, GDI, in his palace at Omoku, the PDP under the leadership of Chief Godspower Ake said the visit had political undertone much as the statement credited to the Ogba monarch was “most unfortunate.” Speaking through its State Publicity Secretary, George Ukwuoma-Nwogba, the Ake-led PDP advised the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers led by His Royal Majesty King GNK Gininwa, not to dabble into politics and beware of politicians who come in sheep clothing but are ravening wolves, adding that anything short of that would rubbish their hard-earned reputation and the sacredness of the stools they hold in trust for their ancestors and the people. The statement reminded the traditional rulers to be aware that the politicians who now want to wine-and-dine with them are the men who said they would not only turn Rivers State into another Somalia but would ensure that nobody sleeps with their eyes closed. “Since then have we not witnessed increased kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and sundry crimes? What else do we need to see to be convinced that these men should be kept at arms-length?” the statement asked.
“It’s most strange,” the Ake-led PDP noted, “that those men and their cohorts are those who have benefited immensely from the benevolence of the present administration in the state,” the PDP noted, warning that as men who lack in repute, the Abuja-based politicians, would end up ruining the traditional institution in Rivers State.
While reminding the traditional rulers that the government of Governor Chibuike Amaechi had elevated many traditional stools, improved their living conditions, the PDP said no good elder stays at home to watch the goat delivered of her kid tethered.
Lamenting on the attempt to bastardise the sacred traditional institution by politicians who pledged to commit their labour to deny Rivers people good sleep, the PDP warned against awarding chieftaincy titles to questionable characters and undeserving persons.”We are worried that traditional rulers would award chieftaincy titles to persons who instigate crisis in their state and promote lawlessness. We never saw it so. Monarchs awarded titles only to persons whose integrity and commitment to development were never in doubt.”
In asking King Gininwa to call deviant paramount rulers among the Traditional Rulers Council to order as to save the most sacred traditional heritage of the people from political marauders in Rivers State whose chief mission is to kill, maim and destroy, the  Ake-led PDP suggested that however, “any traditional ruler interested in partisan politics, rather than hide under the cover of their forbears’ symbols, should abdicate such stools.”

Kevin Nengia