Last Saturday, the Riv
ers State governemnt held a mega rally to mark the last lap of the present administration in the state. The rally was historic as it was the first political gathering in the state that attracted more than 90,000 party supporters at the Adokiye Amasiemaka sports complex at Igwuruta-Eli in Ikwerre local government Area of the state. The party supporters were there in their overwhelming number to celebrate the account and stewardship of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Since 2007, a year after the supreme court judgment that ushered Rt.Hon.Chibuike Amaechi into the Brick House, the seat of power in Rivers State, the governor, had promised to annually present his stewardship to the people of the state and last Saturday was the last lap of a true progressive politician as a leader.
After assuming leadership of Rivers State, the governor has not failed to recognize the fact that politics and leadership are all about service to the people.
He holds the belief and principles that the people must express their wish and the wish of the people must be obeyed, hence leadership, according to him, must be centred on principle of service.
After many years as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), governor Amaechi defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC) due to a clash of ideology and the continued failure of the PDP to carry out the wishes of the people on service delivery. As a true progressive and democrat, the governor within the last seven years has invested massively in the development of physical infrastructure in the state. His efforts has since returned the city of Port Harcourt to the enviable status of Nigeria’ Garden City, a feat that has also accelerated urban and rural renewals.
The land mark achievement of Amaechi administration are not limited to the massive construction of network of roads and allied infrastructure,but also include the building of the first monorail in sub-sahara Africa. educational institutions at primary, secondary school and tertiary levels as well as the integrated urban and rural healthcare facilities.
Amaechi administration has completed more than 70 per cent of its 500 model primary schools while two out of 24 modern secondary schools have been built across the state. He upgraded facilities of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. His focus on education was complemented with the award of scholarship to deserving students to study at home and abroad. It is aso to his credit that he built about 160 healthcare facilities and three modern hospitals. Amaechi ‘s setting up of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency by law was designed to drive rural development. Added to this drive is the establishment of agro-based leadership and allied farms that provided diverse economic means for the people and the state.
In his speech at the mega rally, Amaechi said his administration organised the rally to evaluate his performance and the feedback from the people, adding that the overwhelming turn out has confirmed to him that he is on the right track.
According to him, “They have made too much noise, The President says we exist only on posters and billboards. So, we brought a large billboard for him. If the President is not watching (the rally) they will give him security report.
“This stadium has 45,000 sitting capacity; It was built by me. One of them campaigning for governorship was the contractor to do the roads. He abandoned the roads and took N3 billion and left. Now, he wants to be governor. A thief will not be our governor,’’ he said.
He challenged the members of the PDP  to an integrity test, saying that “I have worked with them; I have their records and their records are in the Office of the Governor.”
“We were to give Port Harcourt water; as I am talking to you today, the Minister of Finance has refused to move the file again back to executive council for approval so that you can have water. They don’t care for you; they want you to die of water-borne diseases. Punish them with your votes; punish PDP with your votes. if Jonathan claimed to be  our son, why can’t we have water,” he asked.
Amaechi said the problem the country has is that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is no longer working, noting that corruption is now at its industrial scale. According to him,’’ the business of stealing is thriving because “we now have an industry called corruption.”
The governor commended all members of the Senate from the state for standing by the state. “Let me also thank members of the House of Representatives from Rivers State. Eight of them came with us, the rest betrayed us and left. We are waiting for them during the election. We shall pay them with our votes. The eight of you that stood by us, God will bless you,” he added.
He was overwhelmingly grateful for Rivers people who stood and are standing by me, noting that “I have no choice, but to deliver on my services.  I have to deliver on my promise and I can assure you that that is the task I have. So, I thank all Rivers people.”
“They said the reason why the President is not performing in Rivers State is because he is quarrelling with the governor of Rivers State. Okay, what is the quarrel between the Governor of Akwa Ibom and the Governor of Cross River that the roads from Akwa Ibom to Cross River is abandoned. Are they quarrelling too? It is more of lack of performance.
“So, if the President says it is because he is quarrelling with me, was he quarrelling with me in 2012? When he took our oil wells, was he quarrelling with me? He (Jonathan) took our oil wells in Kalabari areas. He took the whole of Soku; he went to Etche; he took 41 oil wells and he wants Etche people to vote for him. I am waiting for the election.
“He wants Kalabari people to vote for him. This is to show you that he doesn’t care. Even the Riverine people, he say he won’t give them governor that they should go to hell. Today when the President spoke in Benin, he spoke in a stadium that was less than 20,000. When TAN held their rally in Port Harcourt, they held it at the 16,000 capacity stadium and this was a South-South rally. The rally in Benin was South-South. The rally in Port Harcourt was South-South. This one (APC mega rally) is Port Harcourt rally.
“Did you remember Ebola? To show you how much the President hates, he visited Lagos, did he visit Rivers State? He did not care; he wanted all of us to die. But I took it as a challenge and said none of us would die. Whatever it will take, I will do what I can by God’s grace to protect Rivers people. I brought out the money to fight Ebola. It took the President the end of Ebola in Rivers State to give us ordinary N200 million. The commissioner for Health is here; I released N1.106 billion to make sure Rivers people did not suffer Ebola.
He also listed the poor functional nature of the Port Harcourt International airport as President Jonathan’s non-performance index. “We gave him the highest votes in the country and the punishment we got for giving him the highest vote is operation nothing, he said.
“So, APC is the solution to protect our interest. We must go there to vote out the PDP. It is not about our son. They tell you that you should not vote for these people because they are Hausa people; they are muslims. But the refinery in Rivers was built and commissioned by Tafawa Balewa; he is a northerner. Shagari started NAFCON, IBB commissioned.IBB started the Eleme Petrochemical, Abacha completed. They are all northerners; they are all muslims. NLNG was started and completed by Abacha and he is a northerner and a muslim. Bonny NLNG, NDDC, Niger Delta Ministry were established by northerners.
“In fact, when Yar’Adua was alive, Niger Delta Ministry was working, Now, it is only one item; East-West road and they say he (President Jonathan) is our brother. He is not my brother; my brother is the man who delivers on his services to the people. If the President says he is our brother, let him call one project he performed in the State.
During the solidarity speeches, the national chairman of the APC, Chief John Oyegun, Gen.Muhammed Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor of Kano state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the Chairman of APC Governors forum and Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha and the publisher of the Leadership Newspaper, Nda Isaiah all commended Governor Amaechi for the achievements in the state.
They also commended the Rivers people for the support resulting in a transparent leadership in the state.
According to them, we have come and seen, it is a confirmation that the governor has carried everybody along and urged the people to vote APC so that the good work will be sustained with more progress in the state.