The Ikwerre and Okrika ethnic groups in Rivers East Senatorial District of Rivers State may once again be enmeshed in open hostilities, no thanks to the ethnic colouration being given to the 2015 gubernatorial contest in the state, especially within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Sources have alleged that the bid by the senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator George Sekibo, to succeed Governor Rotimi Amaechi as governor of the state in 2015 has once again pitched the two political associates-turned-rivals against one another.
Further checks by The Nation revealed that Amaechi, who is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election in 2015, is opposed to Sekibo’s ambition and is actually set to facilitate the emergence of another serving Senator as the next governor of the state.
It was learnt that in continuation with his determination to ensure the rotation of political power in the state, the governor is poised to stop Sekibo from emerging as the candidate of the ruling PPD ahead of the 2015 governorship election.
“Long before now, the governor said he would support the rotation of power among the three senatorial districts. If you look at it, Sekibo and Amaechi are both from Rivers East. Odili is from Rivers West, while both Ada-George and Omehia are from the East as well.
“I can tell you that the governor’s sympathy is for the people of Rivers South East Senatorial District. He feels they should be given the chance to produce the next governor of the state.
“His not supporting Sekibo is not out of any personal hatred as some of you may want to paint it. It is actually in line with the party’s principle of sharing political power,” an aide of the governor said.
But Sekibo’s kinsmen are not ready to be swayed by the argument for rotation. Already, many of them are viewing Amaechi opposition to the senator’s ambition as a frontal attack on the entire people of Okrika.
“Given how we supported Amaechi’s ambition even against our own person, Abiye Sekibo, in 2011, it is unimaginable that the governor is now working against the interest of Okrika people.
“Our commitment to the PDP was displayed when we refused to endorse or support Abiye’s ambition on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (A CN). Rather, we saw Amaechi as our brother from Ikwerre and voted massively for him. He won. But now he wants to turn the people of Rivers-East against one another by endorsing an aspirant from another zone to vie against our brother. He has forgotten that for him, we buried our age-long hostility against the Ikwerres in 2011,” Tamuno Tam-George, convener of the Okrika Mandate Movement (OMM), said.
Observers of the politics of the state are of the opinion that the struggle for the 2015 gubernatorial ticket in the state will be a fierce one given the antecedent of the political rivalry between Amaechi and Sekibo.
An architect, Sekibo served as Special Adviser on Works to the Rivers State government under former Governor Peter Odili. Amaechi, from Ikwerre, also in the same Rivers East Senatorial District as Okrika, was the Speaker of the State House of Assembly at the time.
Many pundits pronounced a second term in the Senate for Sekibo, impossibile, after Amaechi became governor. This was because he did not support Amaechi’s court battle to regain his mandate.
And when Amaechi’s then Chief of Staff, Nyesom Wike, declared interest in the position, it seemed a foregone conclusion that George Sekibo would have to pack up from Abuja and return home as not a few saw Wike as Amaechi’s proxy in a political battle with his arch-rival.
As the struggle for the ticket raged, the governor on many occasions showed his support for Wike, but Sekibo emerged victorious and returned to the Senate for a second term.
Sources were later to claim that it took the direct intervention of Dame Patience Jonathan to save Sekibo’s job. At the time, it was largely believed that there was no love lost between the governor and the First Lady who is also from the Rivers East Senatorial District.
Sekibo’s surprise victory over Wike established him as one of the strongest political forces in the senatorial district, especially with the failure of Abiye Sekibo’s attempt to dislodge the governor from office in 2011.
Consequently, his gubernatorial ambition is not being handled with kid gloves by the Amaechi camp. Regarded as a grassroots mobiliser of no mean repute, the governor’s men are leaving no stone unturned to stop him midstream.
Already, the ruling PDP is feeling immense heat according to party sources as allegations and counter-allegations fly back and forth between the two contending camps.
On Monday, PDP youths on the platform of the Rivers Youth Alliance (RYA) stormed the party secretariat in Okrika to protest what they called the intimidation of Sekibo’s supporters by Amaechi and party leaders.
Among other things, the protesters accused the governor of instructing the leadership of the party in all the local government areas in the senatorial district to reject Christmas gifts given them by the senator.
“The governor told them that Sekibo is contesting for governor against his wish and so should be rejected by the party. He said no politician in Rivers East should associate with our Senator who is a son of the soil like him.
He is threatening to remove any party or government official found associating with the senator. These are the reasons why we are here to confront the party elders and ask them if the governor is God,” Tekena Wariboko, leader of the group, said.
But party elders are of the opinion that the situation is not as bad as the youths painted it. Stakeholders, therefore, urged the contending camps to put party interest ahead of personal ambitions if the PDP is to continue to rule the state.
“It is not true that the governor instructed party leaders to clamp down on members associating with any aspirant. Senator Sekibo is a member of the party and we are relating with him well.
These allegations and counter allegations are products of a charged political atmosphere which should be expected in a large party like ours. But one thing I can tell you for sure is that the governor has not instructed the party anywhere in the state to victimise any member for whatever reason,” Clem Orikeoha, Chairman of PDP Stakeholders Forum, said.
Source: OgoniNews
