GOVERNOR ROTIMI AMAECHI’S DISSOLUTION OF CABINET A COMMENDABLE MOVE- RIVERS AC
The decision by Governor Amaechi to unceremoniously dissolve his cabinet on 5th June, 2009, though a welcome development was long overdue. We have by April, 2009 advised that he dissolve his Cabinet considering that most of the Commissioners were just marking time without keying in into the vision of the Governor and his alley, Prince Tonye Princewill the Rivers AC Leader and the rallying point of opposition political parties in Rivers State. We do commend and congratulate him for the worthy and bold step that we believe form a part of his strategic plan to move the state forward.
Considering that the past Cabinet was hurriedly constituted to jump start the state machinery on his assumption of the office of Governor in 2007, it is a widely held opinion, that with his in depth knowledge of the terrain in the course of close to two years at the helms of affairs, he should be in no hurry to constitute a new cabinet. We opine that he should take time to put up a Cabinet that will not only stand the test of time but will concretise our collective vision to take the State out of the doldrums' of the visionless leadership of his predecessors.
We of the AC, acknowledge Amaechi's magnanimity in embracing the opposition as well as demonstrating a focused and determined leadership style required at this time to position Rivers as one of the leading States in Nigeria. As we identify with his vision for the State, we take this opportunity as he commences a new phase of his administration to assure him of our determination to avail him of the much needed support he needs to succeed in his bid to lead the State to “Eldorado''.
We must doff our hats to our erstwhile Ambassadors in the dissolved Cabinet (Barrister Osima Ginah, the immediate past Commissioner for Urban Development and his counterpart in the Special Duties, Dr. Ibiamu Davies) for leading the pack among the outstanding Commissioners in the Cabinet. For the great inputs and efforts, they made to the affairs of government during their tenure; we strongly hope they would be amongst the list of eight commissioners earmarked for recall when a new cabinet is constituted.
Based on their commendable performance we anticipate that three additional slots in the cabinet be filled by members of the opposition, in the light of the new vibrancy injected into the opposition with the constitution of a consensus body of no less than 45 political parties working together with the incumbent Governor to move the state forward. The Leader of the opposition in Rivers State, Prince Tonye Princewill is expected within the week to submit the list of the five nominees to include the old and new Commissioner from the opposition to Gov. Amaechi.
We would like to inform lobbyists that the constitution of the new Cabinet will take a long time, as there is no particular hurry to constitute a makeshift Cabinet not minding that he may be tempted to reappoint the eight outstanding Commissioners into offices within the week pending the constitution of the larger cabinet in order not slow down governance in the State. We also appeal to all and sundry by way of this Release, to give the Governor some breathing space with regards to selecting the most suitable candidates for the job at hand.
Finally, we thank God for the restoration of life back to our senior National Football Team, the Super Eagles due to the dynamism of our super Governor, Rt. Hon. Amaechi as the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force expected to qualify the Team to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. With the transformation that has taken place in the Team since the coming on board of the Amaechi's led Task Force Nigerians can come to appreciate that we have the best performing Governor in Nigeria from Rivers State. With the results gotten from Northern Ireland, France and Kenya outings the hope of qualifying the Team to play in the world cup is rekindled. This notwithstanding, we will like to reiterate that the Technical Team should live up to expectation by fortifying the Team and avoid the lacklustre attitude and the not marking of opponents tactics exhibited during the match against the Kenyan Team when we confronts the Tunisian National Team in two weeks time. We are very convinced that Amaechi will bring his winning magic wand to qualify our Team to South Africa all things being equal.
Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze,
Rivers State Action Congress, Publicity Secretary