Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has accused the media of being involved\u00a0 in\u00a0 a conspiracy\u00a0 of silence while the people\u00a0 of Rivers State are denied legitimate\u00a0 representation\u00a0 at the National Assembly\u00a0 because of the illegal quest to save the dwindling\u00a0 political\u00a0 relevance of an individual.
\nThe governor declared\u00a0 that\u00a0 the time has come for editors to put an end to deliberate negative\u00a0 reportage of events in the\u00a0 state\u00a0 for\u00a0 factual\u00a0 development-based reporting to be enthroned.
\nDeclaring\u00a0 open the 12th All Nigeria Editors Conference organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Port Harcourt yesterday,\u00a0 Governor Wike said: \u201cThe 8th National Assembly is well into the second year of its four year tenure without any Rivers State representative in the Senate, and only a fraction in the House of Representatives. Yet, the press is maintaining conspiratorial silence over the continuing repression and deliberate denial of the State\u2019s constitutional right to full and effective representation at the National Assembly. The question is: can Rivers State legitimately be bound by legislation or resolutions from the 8th National Assembly passed without our representation and input?\u201d
\nThe governor added: \u201c I would like to leave you with some thoughts about the values we share \u2013 thoughts about our democracy, good governance and public accountability. As the watchdog and guardians of the public interest, no other profession can give us the opportunity to know the truth about our country, about our leaders, about the state of our democracy, about ourselves, and about governments than journalists. Your profession enables and empowers you to prod and probe; to speak truth to power, to expose injustice, to speak on behalf of the voiceless and to hold leaders accountable.
\n\u201c Thus, the statement is true that if you all commit yourselves to the highest standards of your profession, you can be the most powerful force for deepening Nigeria\u2019s democracy, for human rights, for justice, for shaping public policy, for fighting corruption, for free, fair and credible elections, and for efficient service delivery.\u201d
\nHe stated that\u00a0 journalists must take interest in the damage being done to the polity by persons trying to subvert the will of the people.
\nHe urged them to use their informed position to report the reality of events in Rivers State,\u00a0 where the people are insisting\u00a0 on\u00a0 free and\u00a0 fair elections.
\nThe governor said : \u201cIn these politically terrifying times, we urge everyone of you to be objective in your coverage and reportage of events and stand with the people of Rivers State in our quest for free and fair re-run elections, instead of serving as proxies for those elements and tendencies that are bent on holding us captives and depriving us of our freedoms and liberties.\u201d
\nThe governor\u00a0 stated that there is no reason\u00a0 for the perpetual postponement of elections\u00a0 in Rivers State.
\n\u201cThey say there are security challenges in the State but even in the height of the vicious violence by the Boko Haram insurgency, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) supposedly conducted elections in Bornu and other infested States.
\n\u201cThe excuse of insecurity is therefore a farcical political contraption. Again, if we may ask INEC and its collaborators: who is fooling who?\u201d, the\u00a0 governor stated.
\nOn his achievements\u00a0 since taking the oath of office,\u00a0 Governor Wike said\u00a0 that he has improved\u00a0 the\u00a0 fortunes of the state through\u00a0 execution of\u00a0 pro-people projects and programmes\u00a0 that have lifted the people from the under-developed position the immediate past administration left it.
\nHe said : \u201cBefore we came in, roads in the State were in their worst states of disrepair. Today, we have restored most of the streets in the State capital and Obio\/Akpor Local Government Areas. In addition, we started 27 new roads and completed 15 strategic roads and bridges abandoned by the previous administration.
\n\u201cAs I speak, work is ongoing on several strategic projects, including the dualization of the 16km Sakpenwa \u2013 Bori \u2013 Kono road, which straddles three local governme0nt areas; the East\/West \u2013 Airport (Prof. Tam David West) Boulevard; the Igwuruta \u2013 Etche road; the Rivers State Ecumenical Centre, and the Port Harcourt Pleasure Park.\u201d
\nGovernor Wike\u00a0 reiterated\u00a0 that Rivers State\u00a0 is\u00a0 safe\u00a0 for\u00a0 investments\u00a0 and\u00a0 leisure.
\nPresident of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mrs Funke Egbemode said\u00a0 that the\u00a0 Conference\u00a0 is targeted\u00a0 at\u00a0 ensuring\u00a0 the promotion\u00a0 of\u00a0 Agriculture\u00a0 as the nation\u2019s\u00a0 alternative revenue earner, and announced that after 55 years without shelter, the Guild now has a permanent structure soon to be commissioned in Lagos.
\nFormer Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan urged journalists\u00a0 to work\u00a0 towards making agriculture\u00a0 attractive\u00a0 to the youth.
\nHe noted that the unattractive nature of agriculture as a revenue\u00a0 has made it difficult\u00a0 for the\u00a0 youth to invest their time and resources in the\u00a0 venture.
\nSpeaking\u00a0 on the rise of\u00a0 militancy\u00a0 in the Niger Delta,\u00a0 Dr Uduaghan called on the Federal Government to adopt a carrot and\u00a0 stick approach.
\nThe 12th All Nigeria Editors Conference attracted over 300 senior Editors from across\u00a0 the\u00a0 country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has accused the media of being involved\u00a0 in\u00a0 a conspiracy\u00a0 of silence while the people\u00a0 of Rivers State are denied legitimate\u00a0 representation\u00a0 at the National Assembly\u00a0 because of the illegal quest to save the dwindling\u00a0 political\u00a0 relevance of an individual. The governor declared\u00a0 that\u00a0 the time has come for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":134314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/134314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}