[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he defeated All Progressives Congress, APC, Governorship candidate for Rivers State in the 2015 General Elections, Mr. Dakuku Peterside was widely reported in the media to have visited Chief John Oyegun, the Party’s National Chairman along with some party faithfuls from the State, whom he described as orphans, to decry their abandonment by the Party hierarchy.
In the said visit, Mr. Peterside, made veiled allusions to the displeasure of the depleting APC fold in Rivers State in being abandoned after its monumental financial contributions to the Party in the last General Election.
The Governorship candidate also called on the invocation of the proverbial Federal might to enable the APC win all the Legislative seats it may have armtwisted the Elections Petitions Tribunal to unjustly nullify against known legal principles.
According to Dakuku, “We have 22 seats in a House of 32-man membership. Winning all 22 seats will give us 23 seats and that will enable us produce the Speaker of the House.
“Presently, the Party does not have a two-third majority in any of the chambers of the National Assembly…Now the opportunity to up the party’s numbers in these chambers has come and WE EXPECT THAT THE PARTY WILL DO ALL THAT IT TAKES TO WIN ALL 12 House of Representatives and 3 Senate Seats.”
That Dakuku Peterside wants a Party lacking leadership and direction; one that has shown a clear disdain for the people of Rivers State and indeed the South of Nigeria and is ruining Nigeria’s economy, to DO ALL IT TAKES TO WIN in Rivers irrespective of its unpopularity in the State, surely justifies why he also said, “We are called all sorts of names including being branded as traitors and almost live like outcast in our communities and environments…”, as only traitors will stop at nothing to see their people impoverished and enslaved.
One even wonders how a Party which acknowledges to being polularly referred to as outcasts can command a legitimate victory in any election in such an environment. This is why Dakuku’s visit and prayer to Baal, the authority that wishes to command unquestionable obeisance from all Nigerian citizens and institutions, is against the people of Rivers State and the security of the future of their children’s children.
In the said meeting, Oyegun decried the Party’s loss of oil-rich states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom and intimated on the probe, and perhaps likely prosecution, of Supreme Court Justices for delivering judgments against the APC.
One wonders what other proof does any Nigerian of South South extraction need to conclude that the interest of the APC was the oil wealth of the region, which it intends to stop at nothing with the help of people like Dakuku to possess and mine for the sole benefit of exclusionists and fundamentalists. Why then does Dakuku Peterside decry the tag of being a Judas and an outcast? Does he expect to stand against the legitimate aspirations of a people and not attract that ire and wrath?
Dakuku Peterside also prayed Baal to, among other things:
– Purge of vestiges of and sympathisers for the immediate-past federal government administration in the leadership of Security agencies, especially in the Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and demanded
– That political appointments in all Federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies including ambassadorial positions be made to reflect the current realities of a change of government.
Then he pleaded for an appointment with the high priest himself; raising eyebrows and strong doubts to claims that the misappropriation of the commonwealth of Rivers State to the APC had secured a prime position for the State in the Party. That appeared not to be the case with the appeal for an appointment to see the high priest.
What could be more condescending to the Rivers man than this? After funding a Presidential election and betraying our own, they are begging for access? Is it not time for Dakuku to cut the crap and redeem himself? Since when has the Rivers man gone cap in hand abegging to those he feeds?
One would have thought that Dakuku Peterside would take on the olive branch extended by Governor Wike of Rivers State and team up to build a better State. But it does appear that that will not be the case as the APC is hellbent on possessing Rivers State and as such will be dealt a defining blow on March 19, 2016. Nothing will be more appropriate.
All Rivers people and residents are on the same page on the fact that the State will not be a cashcow for the enslavement of our people by fundamentalists.
Oraye St. Franklyn, a strategic communicator and good governance advocate, writes from Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He tweets from @RealOraye. He is also on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
