We have witnessed different strands of campaigns of calumny as we head towards the 2015 General Election. However, a supporter of Magnus Abe who defected to the camp of Dakuku Peterside following the order by the Emperor of APC that his benefactor, Senator Abe bury his ambition without a primary.
Mr Andy Briggs is now like a wounded snake, extremely vicious, with very deadly tribal venom. Andy Briggs like other failed elderly ethnic hate preachers has increased the intensity of the message of tribal hate in the politics of Rivers State, which has since been ignored by all PDP members. Like every evil founded on deceit, this hate song will meet with failure at every turn.
This message of hate has been repeatedly preached by Mr Andy Briggs. He writes the same message using different hollow arguments to attempt to hoodwink his readers. Andy Briggs has continued to fail amongst indigenes and residents of Rivers State. However, some Nigerians not very conversant with politics in Rivers State may be tempted to take Andy Briggs seriously. As a failed campaigner for Senator Abe, Andy Briggs should not deceive himself that he would succeed on the turf of the larger Rivers State. If Andy Briggs could not convince the outgoing governor to anoint his benefactor, Senator Abe, he must be told that he cannot convince the multitude in Rivers State.
The next election in Rivers State cannot be won on the altar of hate songs. It cannot be won on the altar of tribalism and the claim that it must be my brother or my kinsman. This is an era of capacity and building contractual relationship with the people of Rivers State to have their buy-in in the move to develop Rivers State. After witnessing four years of threats, hate songs and emperor like leadership under the APC administration of the outgoing governor, Rivers people have resolved not to enthrone any other leader on the premise of ethnicity or location.
Andy Briggs should be told that sponsored propaganda cannot derail the will of the Rivers people. In the New Rivers Vision 2015 team are prominent Kalabari sons like Minister of Sports, Dr Tammy Danagogo, former UBA Chairman, Chief Ferdinand Anabraba, former Degema Local Government Area Council Chairman, Chief Pleasant Briggs, Alabo David Briggs, former Works Commissioner, Chief Precious Elekima and a host of other Kalabari traditional rulers and community leaders. Barrister Wike visited all the Kalabari Local Governments, where he got their separate endorsements. I wonder if Andy Briggs is more Kalabari than those mentioned. These are respected Nigerians who are committed to the growth of Rivers State. Their commitment transcends ethnicity.
All across Rivers State, leaders and ordinary people have teamed up to support the New Rivers Vision 2015. It will be necessary to mention a few of these leaders. Senator Adawari Pepple, former Senate Whip, Chief Kenneth Kobani, former Rivers State Finance Commissioner, Senator George Sekibo, Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Five House of Representatives members from Rivers State, six members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Dr Henry Ogiri, Director of Finance and Administration, NDDC, Mr Hope Ikiriko, Federal Commissioner, Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, former NSE Director General and Mrs Toro Ofili, former Women Affairs, a host other leaders.
These are men and women of pedigree and honour. They are leaders with respect for process and the development of Rivers State. They are leaders who will never resort to issuance of threats and singing of hate songs to achieve leadership. These leaders travelled the length and breadth of Rivers State alongside Barrister Wike to enter into a contract with the people.
Going forward, nobody no matter how dreaded will be allowed to assume leadership with the consent of the people. The New Rivers Vision has gained the trust of the people. Andy Briggs and his wealthy benefactors cannot sit in hotel rooms and expect that leadership will be extended to them. Even the outgoing governor, the anointer-general of APC did not dance to their expectations.
Barrister Wike subjected himself to the test of the PDP delegates and he has been given the mandate to lead the party to victory in 2015. Twenty Andy Briggs singing different hate songs cannot stop the movement of the people.
Barrister Wike is a politician who derives his strength from the people. He worked with the people leading the team that recovered Amaechi’s mandate in 2007. In 2011, he personally led the Amaechi Campaign Organization as Director General, ensuring that he got a second term. The man Andy Briggs has been contracted to defame is the man who built the framework upon which his benefactors climbed. Since Barrister Wike left the Rivers State Government in 2011, there has been no visible development in the state. The people of Rivers State irrespective of their ethnicity have resolved that Barrister Wike should lead the state to the next level.
Andy Briggs should tell his sponsors that the people of Rivers State expect more false propaganda and concocted stories cannot change the course of events. The PDP is not in power in Rivers State and it requires a politician with capacity to lead it to victory –that politician is Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
The movement towards the emancipation of Rivers State from the shackles of under-development cannot be derailed by press conferences, well concocted scripts like the one written by Andy Briggs or by the issuance of threats. The people of Rivers State have entered a contract with New Rivers Vision 2015. That contract will be executed to the advantage of the people.
Written by Simeon Nwakaudu.
