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2023 Election’ll Be Fight To Finish, Wike Declares …As Fubara Pledges Shared Prosperity For ONELGA
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said that the 2023 general election in the state would be a crucial moment that the electorate would use to decide against those who hate the state.
The governor said, therefore, the election would be a fight to finish, adding that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in state was going to win all the elective seats at the end of the day.
Wike spoke at the Local Government Campaign Flag-off rally of the Rivers State PDP held at Felix Obuah Pavilion, Omoku Town in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA), last Monday.
The Rivers State governor emphasised that at previous times when PDP went into election, it won the governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, and state House of Assembly seats, stressing that in the forthcoming elections, the situation would not be different.
Wike explained that when Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Abua/Odual, Ahoada East, Ahoada West local government areas of the state experienced flooding, last year, the state was abandoned to its fate.
“That is how you know those who hate Rivers State; that is how you know those who love us. If you hate Rivers State, we will not give you our vote. We will only give our votes to those who love Rivers State.
“You have to listen to your leaders through the DG (director general) of the campaign. They will come back to you, sit you down, and tell you where we are heading to.
“It is a fight to finish. Do not be afraid. We are going to win at the end of the day. You know that we have always won. We will continue to win.
“We have never failed in anything we have told you. Success has always been with us. God has been with us. This time is not going to be different. God will continue to lead us.”
Wike explained that on arrival in Omoku Town for the rally, they visited the Oba, who gave them his blessings.
“Oba has done the traditional thing by blessing us and telling us, go to the field, my people are there, they will be with you, they will stay with you, and we have seen it today.”
Wike urged the people not to listen to candidates and leaders of other political parties who may come to them to solicit their votes.
He pointed out that such persons failed them when they had the opportunity to fulfil promises they made and to deliver development projects to them.
“Do you allow those who were previously given the opportunity? They failed you. Is there anything they can tell you again? “
Wike implored the people to repeat the level of support that they gave to the PDP in 2015 and 2019 in order to consolidate what his administration had already accomplished.
The governor stressed that he made promises to the people of ONELGA, and had delivered development projects in the area in fulfilment of those promises.
Wike mentioned that even though the immediate past administration awarded the internal roads in Omoku for reconstruction and abandoned them, on assumption of office, he ensured the job was done.
He said that his administration would commission the Kregeni to Omoku Road, and the Omoku-Egbemaroad dualisation by the end of February.
He further stated that the phase two of Ahoada-Omoku Road had already been awarded, and would have street lights.
In his speech, the PDP governorship candidate, Sir SiminialayiFubara, recounted the successes of the Wike-led administration, which the consolidation team would re-enact.
He said there would be further development, particularly in ONELGA where the phase two of the Ahoada-Omoku Road would be completed to ease mobility in the area.
Fubara urged them to ensure they deliver overwhelming votes for the PDP, and be sure that they would enjoy the gains of being the gas hub of the state, experience sustained peace, economic empowerment and enhanced business opportunities.
“What we stand for is good governance. Good governance is providing services. Good governance is making life easy. That is what my principal has done for you, and that is where I stand with you.
“Let me also add, after our road for accessibility, Omoku will be a gas hub. You know what it means for your city to be a gas hub? Businesses will come, investments will come, and employment problem will be over.”
Fubara used the occasion to speak to the enthusiastic people of ONELGA on his plans and programmes for Rivers people when elected come March 11.
“When we visited the Oba of Ogbaland, he told us that we don’t necessarily need to campaign in ONELGA, and you are also telling us the same thing. This shows that you appreciate what Governor Wike has done in this LGA, and you also know what we will do when you bring the consolidation team on board.
“We have a reason for tagging this team consolidation; it is a special word that will bring further developments to Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area and the entire Rivers State.
“The administration of Governor NyesomWike has constructed several roads in this LGA, and some are still ongoing. You cannot talk about development when there is no accessibility.
“What we stand for is good governance, good governance is securing lives and properties, providing good services, making life easier, and that is what my principal the governor has done for you, and that is where I stand,” the guber candidate said.
He further hinted on some of his plans for Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area when elected governor of Rivers State.
“Omoku will be a gas hub under my administration, we will attract more oil and gas investors to invest here, more businesses will come, unemployment menace will be over.
“There is one important thing we must know; without peace there cannot be any meaningful development. As you can see, Governor NyesomWike has brought peace to this LGA. I will be succeeding a man who has ensured that ONELGA is peaceful, I will continue to maintain peace in this LGA,” he added.
Fubara seized the occasion to tell PDP faithful not to relent despite the overwhelming sign of victory, and urged them to go back home and sensitise more people on the need to vote PDP in the governorship, National Assembly, and state assembly elections.
Similarly, the deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State, Prof. NgoziOrdu, highlighted some of the achievements PDP government of Sir Peter Odili, which she served as the commissioner for education, recorded in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni in the educational sector.
Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr Ipalibo HarryBanigo, who is Rivers West Senatorial District candidate, assured that if elected, the interest of the state would be jealously protected.
Banigo commended the Wike-led Rivers PDP for including more women and youths in governance, and promised to promote the growth of the state at the federal level.
On his part, the Director General of PDP Campaign Council, Bro Felix Obuah, said the people of ONELGA already, were PDP converts, who had vowed to use their PVCs to deliver all candidates of the party on Election Day.
The Rivers State Chairman of the PDP, Amb Desmond Akawor, gave flags to the various PDP candidates contesting for various positions in the Rivers West Senatorial District.
Akawor said campaigning in ONELGA was like preaching to the already converted because it was a stronghold of PDP.
“We didn’t come here to campaign because campaigning in ONELGA is like preaching to the converted, ONELGA is a PDP stronghold. It is the LGA of the former chairman of our party in the state who is currently the DG of the campaign council. This is where the next deputy governor of the state comes from. We have never failed any election in this local government area, this time will not be an exception,” he said.
Earlier, Wike, who was accompanied by the deputy governor, the PDP governorship candidate and others, paid a courtesy call on the Oba of Ogbaland, Dr.Nwachukwu S. Obuoha, Obi III at his palace in Omoku.
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RSG Moves To Diversify Rivers Economy …As Farmers, Others Laud Ibas Over Implementation Of RAAMP
The Rivers State Government has restated its readiness to diversify the economy of the state from oil to Agriculture.
This is as farmers and other stakeholders have commended the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Retd) for approving the implementation of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing project (RAAMP) in the state.
Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this during a meeting on implementation of RAAMP in Ikwerre, Eleme and Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Areas.
Ogolo said the programme would create an agricultural industrial hub in the 23 local government areas, and urged the people to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, rural farmers and other stakeholders in the State have lauded Ibas for approving the implementation of RAAMP in the State.
RAAMP is a world bank program with support from the International Development Association ( IDA), the French Development Agency and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
According to a statement made available to newsmen, the programme aims to strengthen the institutional and financial base for sustainable management of state and rural networks, fostering historic development to enhance food security, creating access in rural communities to boost agricultural processes through creation of durable access roads and agro logistics centres/hub.
Tide source confirms that the program has been in operation since 2020 with 19 states benefitting.
The benefitting states are Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Bauchi.
Other beneficiaries are Plateau, Kwarra, Ondo, Niger, Gombe, Anambra, Cross River, Taraba and Benue states.
The source said that 12 new states including Rivers State recently completed their requirements for inclusion into the RAAMP 3.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting at Isiokpo, Nchia and Omoku, headquarters of Ikwerre, Eleme and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas respectively, a cross section of farmers described the programme as timely as it would boost food production as well as create markets for agricultural produce.
At Eleme, HRH Emere J D Nkpe warned against politicising the project.
The people also complained against incessant destruction of crops by herdsmen and called for it to be checked.
Also speaking at Omoku headquarters of Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area,Eze Allison Dan and Barrister Lola Nwaribe commendation the government for the program but warned against it going the way of other programmes.
For Barrister Nwaribe Women in the area needs assistance to break free from subsistence agriculture
Speaking at the three ocal government areas Ogolo said Rear Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas rtd needs to be commended for approving the implementation of the program in the state.
Ogolo said the program is aims at diversifying Rivers economy from oil to Agriculture.
He said the program will also enable farmers to move from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, adding that access roads will not only be created to farms but markets will be built for farmers to sell their produce.
He listed other benefits to include creation of employment for the youths and helping small traders to boost sales.
Also speaking the state RAAMP Coordinator,Mr Joshua Kpakol said the “the essence of this project is to provide rural access roads and improve agricultural marketing systems across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state”
Kpakol said the project is divided into three components which are improvement of Rural Access and Trading Infrastructure, Sector Reform,Asset management and Agro logistics performance Enhancement and Institutional Development, Project Management and Risk Mitigation.
He urged farmers and traders to embrace the project as it would go along way in changing their fortunes.
At Ikwerre and Eleme local government areas respectively, the sole administrators of the two councils Hon Isaiah Christian and Dr Gloria Obo Dibiah said the councils will work towards the success of the program.
They commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Sole Administrator of Rivers state for ensuring that their respective councils benefits from the programme.
John Bibor
The FCT High Court in Abuja, yesterday, granted the suspended Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, bail in the sum of N50 million and one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
The trial judge, Justice Chizoba Orji, made the declaration in a ruling after taking arguments for and against the bail application from the parties in the suit.
The Attorney General of the Federation, in a three-count criminal charge marked CR/297/25, accused Akpoti-Uduaghan, the sole defendant, of making defamatory statements against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during a live television broadcast.
The charge, which lists Akpabio and the former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as nominal complainants, alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed Bello had conspired with Akpabio to orchestrate her assassination outside Abuja, disguising it as a mob or local attack.
According to the Federal Government, these allegations were made during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The Federal Government claimed that Akpoti-Uduaghan knowingly or recklessly made these imputations, fully aware that they could harm the reputation of the individuals involved.
The charge alleged that she said, “Let’s ask the Senate President, why in the first instance did he withdraw my security, if not to make me vulnerable to attacks? He then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. What is important to me is to stay alive, because dead men tell no tales. Who is going to get justice for me?”
The charge also cites her statements during the programme as saying, “That you, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on or about the 3rd day of April 2025, during the same Politics Today programme on Channels Television in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, made the following imputation concerning Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.
“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night, to eliminate me. When he met with him, he then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. You knew or had reason to believe that such imputations would harm the reputation of Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.”
The senator is also accused of making defamatory statements about Akpabio during a telephone conversation with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on March 27, 2025.
The alleged statement is as follows, “That girl that was killed, what’s her name, umm…. Imoren Iniubong, her organs were actually used for the wife, because the wife was really ill… when they killed the girl, and her organs were used for the wife.”
The Federal Government contends that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan knew or ought to have known that this claim would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bello, and four others have been listed as witnesses in the trial.
The arraignment of Akpoti-Uduaghan was initially scheduled for June 3, 2025. However, the strike action of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria stalled the arraignment.
Meanwhile, a similar matter is also lodged before Justice Muhammed Umar, of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
While Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was slated for arraignment before Justice Umar, she, however, did not appear for the arraignment since the prosecution had not been able to serve her as stated in court.
The prosecution, however, applied for a bench warrant to be issued on the suspended senator, which the court refused.
At the commencement of the hearing, the counsel to the Attorney General of the Federation, David Kaswe, told the Court that the matter is for arraignment of the defendant (Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan).
Natasha was docked, and the three-count read to her. She pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Akpoti-Uduaghan’s legal team, led by Professor Roland Otaru (SAN), afterwards informed the Court that a bail application filed on May 27 has been submitted to the court.
Kaswe, however, informed the court that the Federal Government is opposing the bail application and called the attention of the judge to a counter-affidavit filed before the court to this effect.
He proceeded to ask the court to remand the Kogi Senator in prison as she poses a flight risk.
He said, “In view of the charge, we will be asking for a remand in a correctional facility.
The defence counsel, however, interjected, stating, “We already filed an application for bail. We are in a court of law for Justice. We have a motion on Notice dated May 27, 2025. You represent the Ministry of Justice, not the Ministry of Injustice.
“If your lordship graciously will, we urge your lordship to grant the bail application. This is a case where your lordship has the discretion to grant bail, and nobody can query it, not even the president can query it. Even on self-recognition because it is not a case of murder.”
Referencing the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Otaru added that anybody who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty. “And she pleaded not guilty. As she is standing there, she is innocent until proven otherwise,” he added.
Justice Chizoba Orji, after listening to both arguments, however, granted Natasha bail in the sum of N50 million, with one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, has received 119 stolen artefacts from the Netherlands.
The Oba who disclosed this on Wednesday in Benin, the Edo State capital, said plans by some international cartel to re-loot the artefacts were thwarted after he prayed to God and the ancestors.
He said, “I thank President Bola Tinubu for supporting and committing to the efforts former President Buhari put in place to ensure the artifacts are not re-looted because there were groups in this country believed to be an international cartel that had all sorts of conspiracy to re-loot our artifacts.
“They stole and burnt our Kingdom. They killed my people and tried to kill their spirit and their morale. Today, the boldness, courage, and bravery of the Benin people are still there. Events of 1897 reduced that to a significant level that Sometimes when I see my people, they are afraid of the unknown.
“The return of these objects has reawakened the courage we had in our people. We do not want modern-day politics and partisan politics to diminish the courage of our people.
“The Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments has been doing wonderful work. His predecessor was part of the conspiracy to re-loot our artefacts. We had a running battle in this hall.
“I addressed my Chiefs in Benin language, and I said these artefacts belong to my ancestors, and I will not sit on the ancient throne and watch the artefacts re-looted. They would rather remain where they are than be re-looted. I thank the government of the Netherlands for working with us. This is part of the efforts to reawaken the morale and spirit of my people.
“After 1897, the kingdom was reduced. There was a government in this state that wanted to reduce the kingdom more and scatter it. I am angry when I speak about it. Why would anybody want to scatter the kingdom.
“The youths were courageous like the youths of those days. They were not afraid of anybody. I vowed that it would not happen. Not in my reign. Not while I am sitting on this throne. God heard my prayers. My ancestors heard my prayers. This throne is not partisan, but I should support what is good for my people.
“I urge the youths to be tough and strong in the face of adversity. This is not for anybody else. It is for my ancestors.”
The Benin Monarch further prayed for the return of more artefacts.
The NCMM DG, Olugbile Holloway, said the commission and the Benin Royal Palace were working hard to ensure more artefacts were returned.
Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, who was represented by the Secretary to State Government, Barr. Musa Ikhilor said his administration would continue to build necessary infrastructure to preserve the returned artefacts as well as collaborate with the Federal Government to improve the storage system for the artefacts.
The General Director of the Wereld Museum, Marieke Van Bommel, said, “The artefacts are looted, and we have a policy in the Netherlands to bring them back. We are bringing back 119 artefacts. We don’t have more. These are the collections in the Netherlands. There are more collections in Europe, but that is not up to us. They have been with us for over 100 years.”