August 23 , 2007

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

STATE OF EMERGENCY, NOT THE ANSWER TO CRISIS IN RIVERS STATE

 

Our attention has been drawn to a call by Edwin Clarke and his cohorts   on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State and thereafter cancel the results of the 2007 gubernatorial election and conduct fresh election, following the outbreak of law and order there.

 

It should be recalled that before the present Omehia-led administration, there have been cases of violence, resulting mainly from agitations for resource control, self determination and president of Nigeria of south-south extraction in the Niger Delta, including Rivers State.

 

But rather than patriotically partner with the Rivers State Government, Federal Government, civil society organizations and other stake holders in the oil-rich state, Clarke and co chose to tread on the path of dishonour by surreptitiously fuelling it, as vividly shown by their call for a declaration of state of emergency and conduct of fresh elections.

 

May we ask?

1)      Why didn’t Clarke and his cohorts call for a declaration of state of emergency in Bayelsa and Delta States where the ugly monster of violence is also threatening the security of lives of property of the people?

2)      Why didn’t Clarke and his cohorts extend their call for the cancellation of the results of the 2007 elections in Rivers State to other parts of the country, including the flawed presidential election that produced their kinsman as the Vice President of Nigeria?

 

After carefully x-raying the call, we have no doubt that it was engendered by ethnic chauvinism and political adventurism. The call was not only part of a hidden agenda of a power-seeking clique to violently dislodge Omehia as governor and install one that will be controlled from dark recesses;  but also portrays Clarke and his cohorts as some of the major sponsors of the crisis in the Niger Delta, including Rivers State.

 

Since, from Nigeria’s political history, state of emergency has never solved but complicated the problem of any region or state, and considering that Omehia did not create but inherit the crisis in Rivers State, we call on the Federal Government to disregard the call.

 

On the contrary, we call upon the Rivers State Government to, in the interest of peace and progress; see the opposition, not as an enemy that must be conquered but as an alternative/shadow government whose criticisms will bring out the best in it. Governor Omehia should also convene stakeholders’ conference, consisting members of the opposition, civil society organizations, religious groups and mass movement to fashion out the modalities on how to live harmoniously in the state.

 

Comrade Chidi Nwosu,