Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has urged women to use the 2022 International Women\u2019s Day celebration, tomorrow, to protest against the gender policy of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled Federal Government.
\nWike gave the charge at the civic reception organised in his honour by the Ekpeye ethnic nation at St. Peter\u2019s Catholic School Field, Ahoada Town in Ahoada East Local Government Area, last Saturday.
\nThe governor said it was an APC-controlled National Assembly that actually rejected the five gender bills that would have given women more political opportunities.
\nAccording to him, APC members, who were in majority, were unwilling to amend the country\u2019s Constitution in order to give women requisite political opportunity.
\nWike urged women to keep pace with their demand for legislative rights, and use the occasion of 2022 International Women\u2019s Day to further demand for roles they should play in political administration in the country.
\n\u201cI hear on Tuesday, there will be celebration of International Women\u2019s Day. I ask Nigerian women: what are you celebrating? Other countries can celebrate their women, Nigeria cannot celebrate their women.\u201d
\nHe further said: \u201cTake that particular day, demonstrate against APC which has refused women to be recognised in this country. Don\u2019t go there and begin to dance; there is nothing to dance about until they recognise you. It is only when Nigeria recognises you, then, you can dance.\u201d
\nWike said presently in Rivers State, all the vice chairmen of the 23 local government councils were women, and every local government has, at least, five councillors as women.
\nThe governor explained that he considers himself as part of Ekpeye land, and cannot ignore their development needs.
\nHe thanked Ekpeye sons and daughters who stood with him in his political endeavour.
\nThe governor stated that even though Ekpeye Kingdom was long forgotten, God\u2019s appointed time came, and they now six traditional stools upgraded to first class status, which was unprecedented.
\nWike said his administration has fulfilled every promise made to Ekpeye people in terms of projects\u2019 delivery because he was determined to transform Ahoada into a city.
\nThe governor announced the award for reconstruction of the Ochigba-Ogbologbolo-Ozochi Road and the recognition of Ugbobi traditional stool to first class status in the area.
\nConcerning governorship of Rivers State, Wike said he does not believe in gifting such power, and urged any Ekpeye person who thinks he has such capacity, to be ready to jostle for the office with others across the state.
\nIn his welcome address, Chief E.C. Okorji said Ekpeye people were celebrating Wike because of the development projects delivered in Ekpeye land.
\nAccording to Okorji, the projects included the reconstruction of Ochigba road, internal roads in Odiokwu communities, Ahoada-Omoku dual-carriage road, siting of a campus of the Rivers State University, remodelling of Western Ahoada County High School, the zonal hospital and upgrade of five traditional stools to first class status.
\nOn his part, Senator Osinakachukwu Ideozu described Wike as the voice of Ekpeye land, who has courageously changed the narrative of the people and given them a pride of place in governance.
\nAlso speaking, a former deputy speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Chibudom Nwuche said Wike was an illustrious son, who puts Rivers State on national spotlight always with evidence of good governance.
\nHe noted that Wike was also lover of unity and has unified all people of Rivers State.
\nAt the ceremony, the Ekpeye council of traditional rulers conferred on Wike the Eze Ugbabuzewe Ekpeye Olu of Ekpeye land (the leader who has uplifted Ekpeye ethnic nation).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has urged women to use the 2022 International Women\u2019s Day celebration, tomorrow, to protest against the gender policy of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled Federal Government. Wike gave the charge at the civic reception organised in his honour by the Ekpeye ethnic nation at St. Peter\u2019s Catholic School Field, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-289078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289078","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=289078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289085,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289078\/revisions\/289085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/289084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=289078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=289078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=289078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}