Ogoni Rally: ‘FG Responsible For Ogoni Under-Development’ …Amaechi Has Shamed Detractors – APC …Gov Urges Ogonis To Fast

Rivers State Governor and Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has urged  Ogoni people to vote out the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and get the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report implemented.
Addressing a huge crowd of Ogoni people at the sensitisation rally of the Save Rivers Movement (SRM) last Saturday in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area, Amaechi asserted that the UNEP Report was germane to the development of Ogoniland.
Amaechi said, “without the UNEP report, the Federal Government cannot develop Ogoniland.”’
He recalled that the report had recommended only $1billion for the development of Ogoniland, which was just a meager amount of the $49.8billion crude oil proceed allegedly missing from the Federation Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Amaechi said that with that amount of money domiciled into an Ogoni domiciliary account for the development of the area, the Federal Government would have doused tension in the area, and brought meaningful development closer to the long neglected people of Ogoni.
Calling on Ogoni people to fast for change and vote the ruling party out, the governor insisted that that was the only way to ensure transformation and development in Ogoniland, charging the Ogonis to come out on Election Day and vote en masse against the PDP.
The Rivers governor recalled that prior to his administration; the area was beset by violence and insecurity, further asserting that since he assumed office, Ogoni communities have experienced change and peace.
He warned them to be wary of corrupt and greedy politicians whose plan was to get their vote for their selfish ambition, while assuring them that he would stand by them to ensure that their rights were given and their voices heard.
Amaechi, therefore, urged them to eschew violence, adding, “I don’t want you to take laws into your hands, but also make sure nobody shoots you.”
Speaking earlier, Secretary to the State Government, Mr Gorge Feyii called on the people to support the quest by the Save Rivers Movement to rescue the state from the clutches of those who want to continue to run the state as their personal estates, emphasizing that SRM has the interest of the Rivers people at heart.
Also, House of Representatives member representing Khana and Gokana Constituency, Maurice Poronen commended the governor for the courage in ensuring that the rally was successful.
Poronen said that the governor’s action had shown he loves the Ogoni people.
According to him, “we are saving Rivers State from impunity and liars. We are here to tell you that lies have a time limit.”
In the same vein, Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon Leyii Kwanee said the SRM sensitization had come at a time the state was in dire need of change.
He expressed thanks to Governor Amaechi for advocating change, saying, “Nigeria needs more men like you to move the country forward.”
An Ogoni Woman Leader, Caroline Nabo, said the rally, which was earlier botched by hoodlums, was an indication that God was with SRM.
Nabo said that Amaechi had come to deliver the Ogoni people, as he had shown boldness and firmness in the face of mounting challenges.
The Rivers State Coordinator of SRM, Hon. Igoh Aguma while inaugurating local government coordinators of the body, said the rally was a testament of the good governance the Amaechi-led administration had instituted in the state.
Aguma called on Ogoni people to spread the message of change to all nooks and crannies of the local government, as he challenged the newly inaugurated coordinators to sensitize their wards on SRM vision and goals.
Meanwhile, Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has defied his detractors by braving the odds to attend yesterday’s rally organised by the Save Rivers Movement (SRM) in Ogoni land, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said.
“Against all odds, Governor Amaechi once more proved to be a man of his words by attending the rally against the misguided advice of his detractors, who resorted to scaremongering to dissuade him from doing so. By so doing, Governor Amaechi once more proved that he would never abandon his followers but would always be in the forefront of the crusade to defend the rights of Rivers people no matter the degree of danger ahead”, Rivers State APC Interim Chairman, Dr. Davies Ikanya, said in a statement issued yesterday in Port Harcourt.
Ikanya, who also attended the rally and was moved by the huge attendance by APC faithful and Ogoni people, declared Governor Amaechi as The People’s General and emancipator of the people of Rivers State.
“Contrary to the impression being created by Amaechi’s detractors that he is a promoter of violence, the Ogoni rally went peacefully and successfully without any incidence of violence, thus putting the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and CP Mbu to shame,” Ikanya said.
He commended Governor Amaechi for his inspirational speech at the rally held at Bori in Khana Local Government Area, saying: “By making a strong case for the implementation of the UNEP report on the need for the cleanup of Ogoniland – which the PDP-controlled Federal Government has so far sabotaged – Governor Amaechi left no one in doubt of his great love for Ogoni people and his commitment to ensuring the development of Ogoniland.”
The Rivers State APC Interim Chairman commended the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, for providing enough security for the rally. He condemned the controversial Rivers State Police Commissioner, CP Joseph Mbu, for encouraging the disruption of the previous rally scheduled for last week Sunday by armed hoodlums, describing him as an enemy of Rivers people.
Dr Ikanya wondered how a Governor who has contributed much to the development of Policing in Nigeria should be so disparaged, maligned and facing the type of persecution Gov Amaechi is currently going through in the State. He recalled that Gov Amaechi purchased and donated over seven Armored Personnel Cars (APC), bought over 200 patrol Vehicles for the Police, paid allowances to the Police, trained most of them and employed the wives of those that died in the course of the struggle to free Rivers State from militancy which he said CP Mbu and his cohorts were bringing back to harass people. This he said simply demonstrated that CP Mbu is either misguided or just evil. “All these notwithstanding, the fact remains that, the blood of the two innocent people killed at that aborted rally as well as the blood of all those killed in the needless violence orchestrated by CP Mbu in connivance with Rivers PDP is on Mbu’s head,” Dr. Ikanya said.
Dr Ikanya commended all members of the National Assembly particularly Hon. Chief Andrew Uchendu who reaffirmed that all the 37 members of the House of Representatives that have dumped PDP for APC will never go back to the sinking ship of PDP. He congratulated Hon. Chief Dakuku Peterside Chairman, Downstream Petroleum Committee of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Rt. Hon. Leyii Kwanee and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, SSG George Feyi and all the State Executive Council members, Chief Tony Okocha the Chief of Staff to Governor Amaechi, Leadership of APC, SRM, Journalists and all the Ogonis that braved all odds to attend the rally.
He predicted a rosy future for APC in Rivers, saying that “the enthusiastic way the people have embraced the party is an unmistakable signal to PDP that it has been vehemently rejected by Rivers people”.
Similary, Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has called on the Ogoni people to declare a one-day fasting for God to make the Federal Government to release $1billion (about N170 billion) from the $49.8 billion allegedly missing from crude oil sales for the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoni.
The governor, who spoke in Bori, Khana Local Government Area headquarters during the inauguration of the local government executive of Save Rivers Movement (SRM), a pro-All Progressives Congress (APC) group, flayed the delay on the part of the Federal Government to release the money for the cleanup of oil pollution in Ogoniland.
“UNEP finished all they did. They said ‘spend $1billion to cleanup Ogoni’. Have you seen the $1billion? Without the UNEP Report, you cannot fish, you cannot farm. $49.8 billion is missing. If they say it is not true, let them tell us where it is. They should bring $1billion from the $49.8billion to do UNEP”, he said.
Amaechi thanked the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar for providing tight security for the rally, which could not hold, penultimate week, because some hoodlums came shooting sporadically to scare the organisers. But the governor lashed out at the state Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, over alleged abuse of federal might, describing his political foes in the state as hungry politicians.
According to him, their target was to plunder the state’s resources. “They are thieves, corrupt people who say they want to serve you. They have a problem, stomach infrastructure problem”, he said.
While urging his supporters not to take the law into their hands, Amaechi urged them to ensure they got their voter’s cards, adding that they should also be part of the APC membership registration exercise billed to commence in February.
“I don’t want you to take the law into your hands. But make sure nobody shoots at you.
If a man slaps you and gets away with it, he will come back tomorrow. Go to INEC for your voter’s card. It is the weapon you have to vote out bad government”, he said.
The governor also said he was apologising to the gathering on behalf of the police for the rally which was aborted, penultimate Sunday, by suspected hoodlums in Bori even as he spoke on some of the successes his administration had recorded in Ogoniland.
Some members of the National Assembly, commissioners in the state and local government chairmen were present. Some of them who spoke drummed up support for the APC.
There was heavy presence of security men in the community. Vehicles were not allowed about hundred meters to the venue of the event. The anti-bomb disposal unit of the police was on ground.
Community sources told newsmen that some hoodlums still shot sporadically in the early hours of the day, a situation that forced some residents to flee the community.
Some people ran to Port Harcourt after they heard gun shots early Saturday morning.
“They feared that there might be a clash between them (bad boys) and the organizers”, one of the sources said.
Most stores on Hospital Road that leads to the venue of the programme were locked up.
It could not be confirmed if it was in compliance with a directive from security men or if the owners were among those who ran to Port Harcourt fearing there could be crisis.

Canadian Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Marcello Difanco (left) and a Student, Miss Bianca Agwunobi,cutting the tape to declare open Canadian Education Fair in Lagos, last Friday