• Says Rivers facing dangerous media war
From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has declared that God never made any mistake ordaining him as governor to drive a trajectory of transformation that is already advancing the State and empowering the people on an enduring scale, positively.
Governor Fubara spoke at Kala-Ibiama Town, venue of the inauguration of the 3.05km long Kala-Ibiama section of the Kala-Ibiama-Epellema Road and Bridge in Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area on Wednesday.
The governor, however, observed the damaging media campaign orchestrated by some self-seeking political leaders of the State in the guise of fighting his administration, warning that such evil acts were rather demarketing the State.
He advised such self-serving persons to discard such depraved mentality, and prioritize the advancement, economic prosperity and positive reputation of the State over their parochial interests.
Fubara said: “I want to assure everyone, more especially our leaders, Rivers State belongs to all of us, the best we can do is to contribute our little quota to better the State. Rivers State, as at today, even in the face of wonderful things that we are doing that people are beginning to see, is faced with dangerous media war that is demarketing the State as we are seeing today.
“The previous administration had its own fair share of it, but it wasn’t as barbaric as what we are seeing today, where people will come out openly, and say, yes, our mission is to demarket the State. Are you demarketing Rivers State for Fubara? Demarketing the State has nothing to do with Fubara. It has to do with all of us to suffer the effect.
“We had a session when the Joint Tax Board came to the State for its meeting. They were asking: is it the Rivers State that they painted in the media as if you could be shot in the streets, and we are not seeing any of those things said of it in the media. Rivers is peaceful, it is our State. What we owe this State is, wherever we find ourselves, wherever God has placed us, let us contribute to the betterment of the State, not to run it down.”
Governor Fubara noted that the obstinate ones have started suffering from the punishment of God, adding that he has no choice than to leave them to such misfortune that they have brought upon themselves.
Commenting on the project, Governor Fubara dedicated the Kala-Ibiama section of the road to three important personalities that he described as political associates who shared same political dreams of the kind of leadership to provide to the State.
Governor Fubara noted that sadly, those associates, who were former members representing Opobo/Nkoro State Constituency from 2015 to 2023, Adonye Kelly Diri; a former deputy chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Dagogo Eli Legg-Jack; a former PDP chairman in Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, Senibo Daniel Legg- Jack; are not alive to see evidence of what has become of the course they once supported, convincingly.
Governor Fubara expressed delight that the Kala-Ibiama road has been achieved for the people, and marks the beginning of many more things that will be done to impact the lives of Opobo/Nkoro people positively, explaining that the Kala-Ibiama community road project was conceived to connect those in Epellema community because there is no way to connect them through the mini-highway into Opobo Town.
Governor Fubara assured that what is happening in the Opobo axis will be replicated in the Nkoro axis because there would not be holistic development without integrating all the sections.
Performing the project inauguration, former Chief Whip of Nigerian Senate, Senator Adawari Michael Pepple, said Governor Fubara has continued to deliver critical infrastructure across the State, especially in Opobo Kingdom, capable of attracting and encouraging business growth, pointing out how difficult it has been to access Kala-Ibiama community, especially during the raining season, a problem the reconstructed road has sufficiently addressed.
In his welcome address, Executive Chairman of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, Enyiada Cookey-Gam, expressed appreciation of the people to Governor Fubara for reconstructing the road that has changed the landscape of the area.