A group tagged Affirmative Block for Credible Democracy, has said the upland and riverine power shift principle should determine the person that clinches the governorship seat of Rivers State in 2015.
Coordinator of the body, Alatubo Charles Harry made the assertion while speaking in a phone-in programme organised by the Silverbird Communications, Saturday in Port Harcourt.
Harry argued that the state had at inception operated an equitable and fair principle whereby the governorship of the state was rotated between the upland and riverine areas of the state.
The Kalabari-born politician said that it was unfortunate that in the last few years, this principle had been upturned by selfish politicians who now promote, what he called, “senatorial tripod” zoning system.
He buttressed his argument, citing Section 14(4) of the Constitution, which he explained upholds federal character even in the sharing of political offices at the state level.
“If the riverine is kept out of the matrix of governing Rivers State in 2015, it would not be fair and just”, Harry emphasised.
Harry, who is also coordinator of the Affirmative Block for Credible Democracy, appealed to the Ogonis to shelf their agitation to take the governorship seat in 2015, pointing out that Ogonis were not the only ethnic group in the South-East Senatorial District that had not produced the governor of the state.
Apart from the Ogonis who have not occupied the seat, Harry observed that the Kalabaris had not also produced the governor, saying that, “I believe very strongly that if Rivers State wants to be one, these views should not be discarded”.
Harry, however, commended the boycott of the PDP convention that held last weekend by the Governor Chibuike Amaechi-led group, as he lamented the poor internal democracy in the Tukur-led PDP.
The former chairman of Rivers State Democratic Movement expressed displeasure over the unnecessary suspensions and expulsions the party has handed out to most if its members in recent time, and warned that such acts were capable of causing disintegration in the party.
Source: The TideNewspaper