News
Local Govt Elections As A Referendum
The much-awaited local government elections in Rivers State would become a reality, by the Grace of God on the 5th of October, 2024. From all indications, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission would fulfil one of the landmark political directives of Governor Siminalayi Fubara on that date.
In the midst of unexpected distractions and challenges from the direction of the immediate past Governor of the state, Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, it became absolutely necessary that Fubara must visibly assume control of the structures of government and governance which the former Governor had claimed to be under his control and even dared that they should not be tampered with.
That was inspite of the fact that Local Governments constitute a tier of government as contained in the Nigerian Constitution, just as other tiers of government like the Federal and State Governments.
Indeed, the Nyerishi Mbam as Wike is being currently addressed by his supporters surprisingly claimed that those whom he claimed to have fixed as Chairmen and Councillors of the 23 local government areas were members of his political structure and should remain untouched even after the end of his tenure.
To affirm that ridiculous claim, another arm of Wike’s superficial structures, the defected House of Assembly members, also purportedly enacted a law to extend the tenure of the chairmen and Councillors for a period of six months
That seemed to have broken the patience and tolerance of Governor Similayi Fubara to call off the bluff of Nyesom Wike and put the issue of the Local Governments on its proper perspective.
Secondly, it became absolutely necessary to conduct local government elections after the Supreme Court’s decision for the direct funding of all Local Governments in the country.
The apex court had clearly directed that only democratically elected Local Governments would be entitled to the allocations.
That was basically the reason to justify the holding of the elections which are also being held in other States around the country.
The supporters of the former Governor failed to make any justifiable case against the appointment of Care Taker Committees in the respective Local Government Areas to manage the affairs of that tier of government and avoid a vacuum while awaiting the election of substantive office holders.
Most previous administrations in the State had carried out similar exercises when the need arises including. the Wike administration.
It would be recalled that when the initial preparations for the Local Government elections were announced, the two parties of” a leprous hand”, as the Late Senior Advocate, Bola Ige would say, the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressive Congress in the State announced their intention not to participate in the elections.
The reason for that decision was not farfetched because the two parties were and being controlled by the former Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Chukwuemeka Aaron, the Chairman of Wike’s arm of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state repeated the party’s stand not to contest the elections.
However, the boycott of the elections by the Tony Okocha faction of the APC does not diminish the wide acceptance of the forthcoming elections. About 20 registered parties are falling over themselves on their decision to participate in the elections.
The elections would produce 23 Local Government Council Chairmen and almost 400 councillors.
Already, the State is agog with campaigns by the candidates and their respective parties, going round all the nooks and crannies of all the wards in the local governments.
Pundits are already predicting that voters would be more excited to participate in an election that is being touted as the most credible than previous and similar exercises ever held in the State.
Indeed, Tony Okocha, the most vitriolic critic of Governor Siminalayi Fubara had openly stated in a news interview that during their time, when he was the Chief of Staff in one of the previous administrations, they were writing the results or outcome of the elections in the (his) office rather than allowing the appropriate body, the Electoral Commission to do its job.
Contrary to that infamous practice, the Fubara administration had declared not to be involved in the electoral process.
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, has indicated that it is on ground and it is adequately prepared for the elections.
The Rivers State citizenry is massively informed and educated on the need to turn-out in their thousand to vote for their candidates in all the wards and local governments of the States.
The parties and their candidates are demonstrating a positive sense of democracy which was so much lacking during the last Presidential and Legislative elections.
In view of the wide public acceptance of the elections, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission is being expected to produce a free, fair and transparent election.
Political pundits are pointing out an interesting scenario, arguing that the positive approval given to the holding of the elections is clearly transmuting to a referendum to finally nail the political reality on ground that a greater majority of people in Rivers State are solidly behind Governor Siminalayi Fubara in his policies, programmes and projects.
Those in this school of thought believe that despite the distractions, intimidations and blackmails from his political opponents, Sim is steadfastly carrying out his projects and programmes unperturbed.
Their argument is that the elections should equally rate as a referendum of approval for SIM.
The massive enlightenment programmes of the various Simplified movement are yielding positive results and political consciousness in the Rivers political space,
The Simplified Movement is present in all the Local Government Areas of the State. There is also the senior citizens’ version that is called the Supreme Council for Sim.
Indeed, there are numerous support groups for SIM, to the extent that it is being openly advertised that the Governor’s entry to politics has agitated and uprooted a political culture that was enmeshed in docility and disinterest in politics and its negative colorations we had witnessed in the past.
That is the reason why the elections could be tagged as a referendum of sorts.
Amabipi Martins
Elder Martins is former General Manager of Rivers State Newspaper Corporation resides in Port Harcourt.
The Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, has alerted the Governor of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Abia states to what he calls an emerging ‘Economic Triangle’ within their states.
Mr China, a real estate success strategist who has won numerous local and international awards, has thus drawn the attention of the governors of the concerned states to the emerging development and has urged them to intentionally accelerate the emergence of the economic triangle.
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital at the conclusion of his business trip to the state, Mr China, who is the managing director of the Housing and Construction Mayor Limited, said the envisaged economic corridor would compete favourably with the Lagos economic hub or even better.
He said: “Talking about ‘Economic Triangle’, the only place that can wrest economic power from Lagos is Akwa Ibom, Abia, and Rivers states axis or corridor. This corridor contains more than Lagos has, if they can be interconnected with smooth roads, ports, and if their blue potentials are unlocked. They will not only wrest power from Lagos but would be more lucrative.”
The investor who is behind the emerging Alesa Highlands Green Smart City in Eleme, near Port Harcourt, said the new ‘Economic Triangle’ has a bigger potential due to massive land assets with the corridor plus blue economy and the existing hydrocarbon industry.
Explaining, Mayor of Housing said Aba (Abia State) provides the biggest fabrication capacity in West Africa to supply goods to the Gulf of Guinea; Port Harcourt provides access to the Gulf of Guinea for off-taking Aba products, and the Uyo provides deep sea port at Ibaka and international airport facilities as well as forest reserves for massive agro-economy.
He said with sea ports in Rivers State and deep seaport in Akwa Ibom, and international airports in Rivers and Akwa Ibom, Aba can focus on adequate power supply and fabrication boom to supply a new booming market around the economic triangle.
By doing this, he said, jobs would spill out in huge quantities and more manufacturers would be drawn from all over Africa to boost the fast coming African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). He said Nigeria would thus have two major trade nodes in West Africa; Lagos and the PH/UYO/Aba triangle.
He said goods going to or coming from Chad, Niger, and the rest of Central Africa can head to the Lagos ports or to the Ibaka/PH ports zone in the new economic triangle.
He said with power supply made stable, good roads, excellent security system, and ease of doing business enthroned in the zone, the South-South and South East would become the biggest economic nerve in the near future.
Mayor of Housing called on governors of the three states to be intentional about the new corridor, put away political differences (if any), and create this corridor by agreeing on projects each state would execute with a short period of time so the states would be linked by good roads, communication, security, trade laws, concessions to investors, etc.
He remarked that northerners were already heading to the Onne Port in Rivers State to export goods, saying creating a commission to oversee the development of the ‘Economic Triangle’ would fast-track its emergence.
He observed that people of the three states are peaceful and usually preoccupied with zeal for economic prosperity, saying that if they are linked to such huge opportunities staring at them in the emerging economic triangle, they would totally shun violence and focus on prosperity.
Mr China insisted that the emerging economic triangle would form a big node not only into the Gulf of Guinea economic zone but into Africa because AfCFTA is about production, certification, market availability, and easy transport nodes by sea and air. He said the new economic triangle boasts of all the factors.
“They can only realise this by working together, through collaboration. One state cannot do it but a triangle of the three will create it through seamless interconnection, ports, industrial park, etc. The people will be the richest and internally generated revenue (IGR) will be the biggest in the country,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu has sent the names of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, days after he sent the first batch of three names.
Among them are the immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmud Yakubu, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri (Delta), and former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, among others.
“In two separate letters to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu asked the Senate to consider and confirm expeditiously 15 nominees as career ambassadors and 17 nominees as non-career ambassadors,” read a statement on Saturday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
In the statement titled, ‘Tinubu nominates 32 additional ambassadors,’ Onanuga noted, “There are four women on the career ambassadors’ list and six women on the non-career ambassadors’ list.”
“Among the non-career ambassador designates are Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia, a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta), former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmud Yakubu, former Ekiti first lady, Erelu Adebayo, and former Enugu governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
“Others are Tasiu Musa Maigari, the former speaker of the Katsina House of Assembly, Yakubu N. Gambo, a former Commissioner in Plateau State and former Deputy Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission.
“Professor Nora Ladi Daduut, a former senator from Plateau; Otunba Femi Pedro, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State; Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister from Osun State; and Nkechi Ufochukwu from Anambra State are on the nomination list,” the statement read.
Also on the list are former First Lady of Oyo, Fatima Florence Ajimobi, former Lagos Commissioner, Lola Akande, former Adamawa Senator, Grace Bent, former governor of Abia, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, businessman, lawyer and Senator from Ondo State, and the former ambassador of Nigeria to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu from Benue State.
Among the nominees for career ambassador and high commissioner-designates are: Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi) and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).
The other nominees are Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah(Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara) and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).
“The new nominees are expected to be posted to countries with which Nigeria maintains excellent and strategic bilateral relations, such as China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, Kenya, and to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.
“All the nominees will know their diplomatic assignments after their confirmation by the Senate,” it read.
Last week, Tinubu sent three ambassadorial nominees for screening and confirmation.
The nominees were Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and Retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun).
All three are in the pot for posting to the UK, USA, or France after their confirmation.
“More nominees for ambassadorial positions will be announced soon,” Onanuga revealed.
The Secretary to Rivers State Government, Dr. Benibo Anabraba, has reiterated that the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara remains committed to improving access to quality education at all levels.
Dr. Anabraba gave the assurance while receiving the Deputy Registrar/Zonal Coordinator of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr Ayanfemi Adeniran-Amusan in Port Harcourt during a courtesy visit.
He emphasised that Governor Fubara remains resolute in sustaining investment in the education sector to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
According to him, “We appreciate the work you are doing and know that our students are amongst the highest in ranking.
“His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, takes education very seriously. He is sponsoring the free registration of students for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Government Schools.
“Also, Governor Fubara has approved the establishment of Computer-Based Test (CBT) Centres across the State’s three senatorial districts and the 23 LGAs. The project is intended to improve access to digital learning and examination facilities for students so that our children are at breast with digital literacy, a prerequisite for today’s students.
“We are currently working assiduously to get those centres, both mega and mini, across the three senatorial districts and the 23 local government ready in order to meet up with your deadline,” he said.
The SSG also conveyed the assurances of the Governor to WAEC on Government’s willingness in providing land for its Zonal Office.
Earlier, the Deputy Registrar/Zonal Coordinator of the West African Examination Council, Mr Ayanfemi Adeniran-Amusan, promised to collaborate with the State Government in matters concerning education development.
In another development, the Secretary to State Government, Dr Benibo Anabraba, also met with officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, led by the Assistant Director of Intelligence, Rivers State Command, Barr. Ikediashi Nwamaka.
The SSG while appreciating the Agency for its effort in the protection of vulnerable persons, also raised Government’s concern on the activities of orphanages and care homes in unwholesome practices such as child trafficking, abuse of underaged girls also known as baby-factory, and the lack of regulations on surrogacy.
He however assured that the Rivers State Government has already put plans in place towards legislation to regulate these acts against vulnerable persons, particularly women and children.
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