The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship hopeful in Rivers State, Dakuku Peterside, has said that the youths that staged a peaceful protest against his emergence as the party’s governorship candidate are not Ogoni people.
Peterside, who alleged that the protesters are people from other political parties who want to cause confusion in the state, said: “I heard that some 150 young men and women were at the Government House, Port Harcourt three days ago. Ogoni people loved me and are very hospitable. I grew up in Ogoni where I spent over 10 years.
“I still have many childhood friends from Ogoni. The protesters are not Ogoni but people from other political parties, who want to cause confusion. The opposition parties sponsored the 150 youths to protest. It is nothing to worry about. I was at the forefront of Ogoni struggle in 1990 when the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) was put in place.”
He said that the protesters carried out the act with the aim of sowing seeds of discord between him and Senator Magnus Abe, an Ogoni governorship aspirant under the platform of APC.
According to Peterside, the perpetrators of the acts have already failed in their plans.
He said: “Senator Abe is not only my friend and elder brother but has also been my close ally in most of the strategic planning we have done in the Amaechi political family, so it is given that he will be at the centre of our march to the Brick House. I have visited and had brotherly discussions with him. Together, we will shame our detractors and claim that which God has destined us to be.”
Throwing light on how Peterside emerged as consensus candidate, the state party Chairman, Davies Ikanya, said: “Rivers State APC was divinely set up to address three principal injustices visited on some sections of Rivers State. One of them is addressing the unjust situation of the Riverine areas of the state not occupying the seat of power since 1999 after the eight years of Dr. Peter Odili and the eight years of the incumbent Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi – all from the upland section of the state.”
“The second injustice is that of the Ogoni, a key tribe of the state, not producing a governor, deputy governor or Speaker of the state House of Assembly since the creation of the state as far back as 1970. The last injustice is that of the South-East Senatorial Zone not producing the governor since the creation of the state; Rivers East having produced Dr. Odili while Rivers West produced Governor Amaechi, leaving the South-East in the cooler all these years.”
Ikanya added: “This explanations become imperative particularly for those outside Rivers State so that they may not be deceived by the mischievous PDP in Rivers State that wants to continue with the injustice meted to the South-East Senatorial Zone and the riverine areas of the state by plotting to truncate the divine mission of the APC by imposing Nyesom Wike from Ikwerre tribe that produced the incumbent governor to fly the flag of PDP come 2015.
“If Wike succeeds, that will make the upland section of the state to govern the state for 24 years, thus effectively excluding both the South-East and the riverine areas of the state from governance of the state.”
Ikanya, who described Peterside as a man who has earned a reputation as a charismatic and disciplined leader; creative and hardworking and a broad-minded fellow with strategic insights, expressed shock over the interest demonstrated by the PDP bigwigs since the announcement of Peterside as the party’s consensus candidate.
He said that the way PDP was rattled by Peterside’s emergence simply shows that his choice is the best for the state. ###
