The Rivers State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has charged the State Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi on the need to be proactive and expedite action on the best approach to use to stop any part of the state from being taken by any State under any guise.
The party in a statement issued on the current impasse between Rivers and Bayelsa States over ownership of six oil wells in Kalabari land and signed by its publicity secretary, Jerry Needam said the Rivers State Government should take a cue from the case of Bakassi peninsular which Nigeria lost to Camerouns at the Hague due to its non-challant attitude and ensure that this all important ceding of part of its territory to sister Bayelsa State is handled with dispatch.
Jerry Needam expressed surprise that the dispute has been on for years without the state government raising alarm.
The ACN spokesman argued that cases of this nature call for both legal and political approaches and blame Governor Amaechi-led government for not exploring all the necessary avenues before rushing to the Supreme Court in the usual PDP style.
Pastor Needam regretted the seeming urge to enter a war without the will to win it, the picture of which is being portrayed by the state government’s inaction in the prevailing circumstance.
The ACN therefore called on Governor Amaechi to prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan to use his good offices to ensure that the cordial brotherly relationship that had existed between the two sister states does not nosedive.
“There is no way the president can pretend not to be concerned directly or indirectly as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and an indigene of the benefiting Bayelsa State who had also been privileged to govern the state in both acting and full capacities as state chief executive. To resolve the matter therefore, he must be directly involved and must not be seen to be playing a double standard”, the party declared.
In the same vein, the ACN spokesman, Jerry Needam enjoined all Rivers people to fully mobilize against any plot from any quarters aimed at dispossessing them of their inheritance and God given wealth. “This is not a case of Kalabari people alone but a Rivers problem impinging on our collective integrity,” Jerry Needam warned.
The party also warned against any action(s), covert or overt by the agencies of the Federal Government to instigate crisis between the two states, insisting that under the present circumstance they know the right thing to do without bias.
The right thing to do, the ACN said is to return to status quo, since the land, oil wells and the people are bonafide properties of Rivers State.
