Peace Advocates Seek End To Political Crisis In Rivers

The International Association of World Peace Advocates (IAWPA), Rivers State, has called on various political actors in the ongoing crisis in Rivers State to sheathe their swords in the interest of peace and development of the State.
The Rivers State Director of the association, Ambassador Juliet Nwokocha, who said this in an exclusive interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, also commended the State Governor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara for toeing the path of peace despite several provocations.
Nwokocha noted that the ongoing political crisis is not in the interest of the development of the state.
The peace Ambassador, who linked the crisis to varied interests, said the only way out is for the parties to sheathe their swords and come for round table discussions with the view to resolving the problem once and for all.
“We have noticed that for some time now there is a kind of unrest, agitations of different interest and we do not find that it is working because peace that is supposed to be the primary goal of every body is no longer in place.
“So, we want to make a bold statement that our association respect all constituted authorities.
“We are requesting that people should respect constituted authorities whether the police, whether the Governor”, she said.
Nwokocha said peace should be the primary goal of anyone agitating for one thing or the other, adding that the interest of the state and its people should be given consideration by all the political actors in the state.
She also traced the problem to interest, saying, “What I think is just varied interests. That is what we have seen. Different interests and different aspirations. If the interest is a common one, we will not have agitations we are having right now.
“We are requesting that they sheathe their sword and go into dialogue, from dialogue a resolution can be reached midway to ensure that it is fair to all the parties”, she said.
Also speaking, Ambassador Ufoma N’light, Deputy Director, International Association of World Peace Advocate, Rivers State, said the crisis has portrayed Rivers State in bad light before the international community.
He said the sooner the key actors in the crisis sheathe their sword, the better for the State.

John Bibor