Group Tasks Politicians On Unity

Stakeholders under the umbrella of Rivers Elders and Leaders Council (RELEC) have called on politicians to eschew politics that would undermine the unity and economic objective of the founding fathers of Rivers State.
The group made the call through its chairman, Dr Albert Korubo Horsfall in a media briefing held immediately after the committee’s last quarter meeting of the year in Port Harcourt, last Friday.
Horsefall said the meeting was held to deliberate on some lingering issues posing great challenges in the state ahead of 2019 general election.
According to the chairman, the council identified violence and insecurity among the major issues and decided to reach out to the state government on how to tackle it ahead of 2019 elections.
He said elders in the state will no longer fold their hands and allow politicians to sabotage the vision of the founding fathers of the state.
Horsefall said already the council had set-up a committee that would work out a position paper to be presented to Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, on how to move the state forward.
“We the elders and leaders in the state will no longer fold our hands and allow politicians to bend to vision and mission of the founding fathers of this state.
“This state was known to be number two state in Nigeria in terms of development and economic importance.
“This state was known to be peaceful and to unite against extensive aggression, and so we the elders can not allow some greedy politicians to win the state in the name of politics”, he said.
He also called on politicians to play politics by the rules in order not to throw the state into chaos.
Other stakeholders who spoke expressed the need to reach the Federal Government on the state of sea ports in Port Harcourt and Onne.
Fubara Robert from Okrika attributed the decayed state of federal agencies in the state to feud among top politicians at the federal and the state level.
Also speaking, Herbert Awortu from Andoni appealed to the elders forum to look into the operation of some companies in the state.
He said most of the companies were only employing non-indigenes to top positions, while Rivers indigenes were only given clerical and menial jobs that cannot give them good income.

Enoch Epelle