The Deputy Gov or Rivers State, Engr. Tele Ikuru, , has refuted what he called a recklessly written, unarticulated and misleading publication by a hitherto unknown Port Harcourt based tabloid, Galaxy Weekly Newspaper of September 9-14, 2013, in which it was mischievously alleged that the Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Engr. Tele Ikuru, FNSE, has abandoned his boss and Governor, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, in light of the emergence of Prince Uche Secondus, as the Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),describing it as false and malicious.
“Ordinarily, there would not have been any need to respond to a completely thoughtless, naive, fictitious and mostly speculative combustion of a warped mindset by a hitherto unknown local publication seeking relevance and public acceptance by leveraging the benefits of undermining the hard earned reputation of men of integrity such as their excellencies, the Governor and Deputy Governor of Rivers State and also attempting to drive a wedge between them but for the sake of gullible members of the public who may have stumbled on the said contraption and probably fallen into the temptation of giving the hugely tactless story a needless thought we, as a matter of responsibility, hereby hazard a response.”
His Excellency, Engr. Tele Ikuru, wishes to categorically state here that the said story is baseless, totally unfounded and hugely targeted at misinforming the people of this State while also aiming at begging for a market share for an unpopular and more or less moribund tabloid. By indulging in the unfortunate act of crying wolf where none exists and impishly conveying the impression that there exists or will exist a conflict between their Excellencies, Governor Amaechi, and his deputy, Engr. Tele Ikuru, the said tabloid and its purveyors have foolishly attempted the futile, the vain and railroaded down the bile and vile path to ignominy because any right thinking person would appreciate the naked fact that in a season fraught with several challenges as his boss, Governor Amaechi, is currently confronted with, it would be historically and eternally ignominious and disgraceful posterity-wise for anyone to abandon their leader in the middle of the road.
Maybe it would interest the writers and their sponsors that Engr. Ikuru’s unflinching support to Governor Amaechi has been acknowledged and applauded by all and sundry including the Governor himself. This is even more so in the camp of Governor Amaechi’s traducers where Engr. Ikuru’s unflinching loyalty to his boss awes and befuddles everyone. Engr. Tele Ikuru has not and will not withdraw his support and commitment to the incumbent Executive Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, CON, and the administration he leads, for which he has labouriously worked hard and contributed immensely to its success.
It is detestable and disheartening that at a time as this, when prayers and supplications and consultations are ongoing by the peace-loving and concerned people and friends of Rivers State to resolve the lingering political crisis that has manifested in the distraction of governance and deterioration of security in the State to the extent that a cleric of ArchBishop Kattey’s standing, the second in command to leadership of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria, a servant of God, could be picked up from the road and made to undergo the trauma of being kidnapped, some ignoble rabble-rousers are busy planting seeds of discord to truncate the strenuous peace efforts and volunteering themselves as harbingers of conflicts, stokers of unabating fires of trouble and enemies of the polity.
The publication is a sad pointer to the unimaginable depth media practice has degenerated due to the reprehensive and debilitating activities of publications in the league of the sorry tabloid. The call goes to the media practitioners to continuously uphold the tenets of Journalism exemplified by ethics, decorum, fairness, objectivity and integrity in media practice. The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Newspaper Publishers Association of Nigeria (NPAN), and other gatekeepers of the media profession should continuously ensure proper regulation of the media environment to pre-empt unfortunate situations where the media is deployed to stoke crisis, malign the hard earned reputation of public servants, and create an atmosphere of suspicion in the polity.
Rivers people are therefore enjoined to disregard the publication and such related nuances as the Deputy Governor, Eng. Ikuru remains committed to the administration of Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, come what may.
As for the Galaxy Weekly, the Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Engr. Tele Ikuru, demands an unreserved apology and retraction of the said story within two weeks or risk legal action being instituted against it for such asinine and kindergarten tomfoolery.
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