Rivers Elders Knock Amaechi For Organising ‘divisive’ Stakeholders’ Meeting During Osinbajo’s Visit

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, February 15, (THEWILL) – Leaders and custodians of Rivers’ cultural heritage under the auspices of the Rivers Elders Consultative Council, RECC have condemned an alleged attempt by the former Governor of the state now Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, to introduce divisive tendencies in the state.

The Rivers elders spoke in reaction to a parallel town hall meeting members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state held with the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, when he landed in Port Harcourt on Tuesday in continuation of his constructive engagement with stakeholders to restore peace in the Niger Delta.

The Executive Secretary of RECC, Chief Granville Abiye Georgewill, in a statement issued on Wednesday , expressed dismay that the acting president could be deceived into attending an APC function arranged by Amaechi with the impression that the participants are apolitical Rivers people.

“Even though party slogans were chanted at the meeting, there are two things Amaechi would have set out to achieved. It may be that he wanted the acting president to have an impression that there exists an APC in the state and therefore paid all sorts of persons, some were made to dress in chieftaincy regalia when they are not, just to make the crowd appreciable to the visiting acting president.

“The other reason may be that Amaechi intended to clear the shame he would have received at the airport when he did not receive the courtesies he perhaps expected from the people of the state,” the statement read in part.

The council maintained that it was disrespectful to the constituted authority, and indeed to the government and people of Rivers for Amaechi to organise another so-called stakeholders' meeting 24 hours after a properly-attended reception, stakeholders' meeting and banquet was organised by the government and people of the state in honour of the visiting acting president at the Brick House, which is the state’s seat of power.

Clarifying that the position of Rivers people were well articulated and presented to Osinbajo by Alabo Graham Douglas, Hon. OCJ Okocha (SAN), Annkio Briggs and others at the stakeholders' meeting, the elders' council wondered what the second unrepresentative and parallel meeting achieved at the end of the day.

RECC queried what impression Amaechi was creating to the federal government, of a state that in the past one and a half years has been properly managed, united and focused under the leadership of Governor Nyesom Wike.

The elders’ council warned that they would not tolerate any person or group of persons attempting to cause disaffection, division and hatred and called for unity of purpose, cooperation and understanding so as to advance the cause of development in Rivers State.