Kukah’s Support Fuels Ogonis’ Clamour To Produce Amaechi’s Successor

Ahead of the 2015 governorship election in Rivers State, the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in the Rivers South-East senatorial district have stepped their agitations to produce the successor of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi from May 29, 2015.

A few weeks ago, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Most Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah, joined the league of those who have openly declared their support for the clamour by the Ogonis to produce the next governor of the state.

Kukah, who endorsed the Ogoni governorship project when a delegation of the Ogoni Generation Next, visited him in Abuja, said granting the Ogonis the governorship seat will boost their confidence in the governance of the state and Nigeria.

He said: “We will continue to associate with the people of Ogoni until your dream of producing the next governor of Rivers State in 2015 is achieved. I want to commend you and encourage you to remain peaceful and prayerful until you achieve that project.”

Oil-rich Ogoniland, which consists of Eleme, Gokana, Khana and Tai local government areas, is situated in the South-Eastern part of the state with vast arable land and rivers, which have been devastated by oil exploration and exploitation.

Some prominent Ogoni leaders told LEADERSHIP Weekend that “there is nothing that is very dear to their heart now than to actualise their aspiration of producing Amaechi’s successor.

Dr. Peter Medee, who is a community leader in Ogoni and lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), said the quest by his people to produce the next governor of Rivers enjoys the support of most Ogonis.

Medee said: “The Ogoni governorship project is very clear. This time, Ogoni ought to produce the governor of Rivers State. It is one of the major ethnic groups in Rivers State and if the Ikwerres have produced the governor, then, it should be the turn of the Ogonis. Ogoni is in Rivers South-East senatorial district. Rivers West senatorial zone has taken its turn, Rivers East has produced the governor of the state, so, it is the turn of Rivers South-East, and the Ogoni is one of the major ethnic groups. Ogoni should be able to agitate and produce the next governor of Rivers State.”

Another prominent Ogoni leader and former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Dr. D.K. Badom, said the clamour to produce the next governor of the state should not be for the Ogonis alone, but all the people in the South-East senatorial district.

Badom said: “The important thing is that they should shift the governorship seat to the South-East senatorial district, because that is where fairness starts from. I wouldn’t say Ogoni specifically; it would appear as if it is the only ethnic group in the South-East senatorial district. We are talking about that senatorial district because the other two senatorial zones have produced the state’s helmsmen.

“In Rivers State, the South-East senatorial district has not produced a governor, either military governor or civilian governor. So, it is only fair and therefore proper that all political parties should look at the South-East senatorial district and concede to them the governorship seat of the state in 2015. That is one.

“When it gets to that South-East senatorial district, it will be proper for them to look at it again, because the important thing is to show love, fairness and focus on unity. In that senatorial district, we have a long relationship and we have to maintain that. When it gets to the South-East senatorial district, it will be only proper for all the ethnic nationalities that make up the district to zone it to Ogoni. Ogoni is the largest ethnic group in that senatorial district. When it comes to the zone, let the Ogoni ethnic nationality take the first slot.”

Except the Kalabaris, which is the major ethnic group in the Rivers West senatorial district, every other ethnic nationality in the state, including Etche, Asa/Ndoki, Ogba and Wakirike is in support of the aspiration of the Ogoni.

The Kalabaris believe that the three civilian governors that have ruled the state from 1999 till date: Dr Peter Odili, Sir Celestine Omehia, and Amaechi, were elected on ethnic line and not on the basis of senatorial zones.

According to Sotonye Ijuye Dagogo, the director of Communication, Kalika Assembly, a pro-Kalabari pressure group, “The truth is that only three ethnic groups of Okrika, Ndoni and Ikwerre have produced elected governors while Ikwerre, Etche, Ndoni, Opobo and Andoni have produced elected deputy governors. The rest of the ethnic groups which include Kalabari, , Ogba, Ekpeye and many others like Ogoni are yet to produce the chief executive of Rivers State.

“We believe that it would amount to an act of gross geo-political imbalance and insensitivity for Ogoni not to produce the next governor after Dr. Peter Odili from Ndoni, Mr. Celestine Omehia and Rotimi Amaechi from Ikwerre, have occupied the Brick House. It is, therefore, our considered opinion that the next governor of Rivers State should in fairness come from the “riverine” after the above three ‘upland’ governors,” he said.

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now All Progressive Congress (APC) seem to have disagreed on the issue.

Mr Jerry Needam, a journalist and media adviser to the state PDP chairman, the ruling party cannot engage in ethnic politics by either supporting or working against the Ogoni’s project.

Needam, who is also an Ogoni, said: “The PDP is not an ethnic-based party, we are for the people of Rivers State and not for any ethnic group and therefore cannot tell you whether we support the clamour for an Ogoni governor in 2015 or not.”

Hon Hope Onyeche, chairman of the Forum of ACN Local Government Chairmen in Rivers State, said the Ogonis being part of Rivers, have the constitutional right to agitate for the highest political office in the state.

Onyeche said: “It is a welcomed development because they must not be side-lined. Governance in Rivers is rotational. It is their constitutional right to demand for governorship seat, it is not out of context.”