State Creation: Bori State Will Be Considered…...Abe

The Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Magnus Abe, says request for the creation of Bori State will be considered first, before the 18 states proposed by the National Conference when the legislature kick-starts the process.

He therefore called on the people of the seven local government areas that make up Rivers South-East Senatorial District not to lose hope over their agitation for the creation of Bori State.

Senator Abe spoke at Saakpenwa, headquarters of Tai local government area of Rivers State, during a one day mini-congress of the Ogoni Ethnic Nationality, organised by the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers.

'The power to create States in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, rest on the National Assembly and by the grace of the people of Rivers South East Senatorial District, consisting of Opobo, Oyigbo, Andoni and the four Ogoni Local Government Areas of Eleme, Gokana, Khana and Tai, I am a Member of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and privileged to be a Member of the Constitution Review Committee'.

'During the last Constitution Review exercise, request for states were overruled, but because the Senate Committee saw merit in the agitation for Bori State, it allowed the demand to be re-presented, which was received by Distinguished Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee. So, if there are other documents for state creation, such request will meet our own at the committee's table.'

'The problem of Nigeria is not how we will share the cake but how to enlarge it; 'if we create unviable states, we are actually inviting under-development. Bori State is a viable state with enormous capacity and resources. That is the demand that is legitimately before the National Assembly, and it will be weighed when the demand for creation of states are considered.' He said.

In his keynote address, former Chairman, Provisional Council of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Professor Ben Naanen, said majority of Ogoni people believe that having a state of their own is one of the surest ways of getting empowered in Nigeria.

Prof. Naanen, who spoke on the theme; 'Ogoni Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: The Struggle Against Internal Colonialism', said for 2015, the Ogoni political agenda should focus on getting an Ogoni candidate elected as governor of the State.

Earlier in his welcome address, convener of the mini-congress and President, Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, King Godwin Gininwa, said the meeting, which cut across all political divides, was aimed at allowing the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality rub minds on the way forward for the area.

Gininwa, who is also the Chairman, Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, called on the people of Ogoni to ensure that they were united in the quest to produce a successor to Governor Chibuike Amaechi, come 2015.

Goodwill messages were presented at the congress by KAGOTE, MOSOP and selected Ogoni Opinion Leaders.

Signed:

HONOUR SIRAWOO
Spokesperson to Sen. Magnus Abe
July 13, 2014