SENATOR ABE WRITES KING DANDESON DOUGLAS JAJA OF OPOBO!
Chairman,
Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers,
His Majesty King Dandeson Douglas Jaja, JP, (Jeki V),
The Amayanabo of Opobo,
No. 3 Asarama Street,
Old GRA,
Port Harcourt.
Sir,
RE: THE DANGER OF INTRODUCING DIVISIVE POLITICS INTO THE RIVERS STATE COUNCIL OF TRADITIONAL RULERS
Let me start by congratulating you on your elevation to the chairmanship of this revered institution. As king of the ancient Opobo kingdom and a direct descendant of the famous king Jaja of Opobo , you are indeed a square peg in a square hole, and history has rightly positioned you at a time when Rivers state needs men of rare courage and wisdom.
Your Majesty, I commend you and your colleagues, our Royal Fathers for your love and sacrifice for our dear Rivers State. Your Majesties and Royal Highnesses you will agree with me that this has been a difficult time, and Rivers State has suffered a lot over the past few years because of the divisive nature of the politics of our state. Politics is always divisive, but the division in Rivers State has been escalated by the actions of one man, the current Executive Governor of Rivers State, His excellency Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike. His decision to hijack the structures of his party ( the Peoples Democratic Party) and foist his candidature on the party, without regard to the zoning policy of the PDP and the natural and political divisions of our state is the foundation of the current crisis in Rivers State that continues to shake the state to its very foundations.
As a direct consequence of this action which required unprecedented violent enforcement, Rivers State has been plunged into a tectonic crisis, an orgy of violence such as we have never seen before to a point where we have been unable to conduct elections in Rivers State and our state remains unrepresented in the Senate, only partly so in the House of Representatives, and some constituencies in the State House of Assembly remain unrepresented. Indeed the division is so severe that members of the State Assembly elected on the platform of my party the APC are not allowed to take part in the proceedings of the house. Every institution in the state has been affected by this deep division in our polity.
Your Majesty, the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers is today the only organized body of leaders and elders in Rivers State that has the capacity to talk to every side of the political divide, that is why the recent action and statements by the Executive Governor of Rivers State that traditional rulers are to be dismissed on political grounds should be viewed with serious concern by your council. To all right thinking citizens and to us who are members of the APC, this position of Governor Wike is an ill disguised ploy to politicize the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers and victimize traditional rulers who refuse to play the script of the PDP and compromise their stools for temporary gain. If traditional rulers are dismissed for this reason, we the members of the All Progressives congress will assume that every traditional ruler that is spared dismissal has compromised his stool in favour of the PDP. We are aware of the pressures on members of this council to disassociate from their subjects who are members of the APC and to exclude APC members from all traditional activities in your various kingdoms.
Your Majesties and Royal Highnesses let me plead with you for the sake of our dear Rivers State not to bow to this pressure but rather to advise Governor Wike to thread with caution while dealing with our revered traditional institutions.
Should the Governor proceed to make good his threat, the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers will then be seen and perceived as an affiliate of the PDP. A PDP council of traditional rulers, this will mean that whenever the APC regains power the pro-PDP council will be cleansed using the same PDP method of accusation and dethronement. This will start an unending yoyo dance that will balkanize our traditional institutions and bring them to disrepute.
I am therefore constrained to appeal to you to use your God given wisdom to navigate this potentially destructive precipice on which the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers has now been set. It is my hope and prayer that God almighty will grant your Majesties and Highnesses wisdom and courage to overcome every trial and maintain the dignity of your revered stools.
With great humility and respect,
I remain Yours faithfully,
Senator Magnus Ngei Abe