Daniel Otelemaba Amachree has said that the new Rivers State House Assembly he heads will not be rubber stamped. We say kudos to him and to the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Layi Kwane, for clinching these exalted offices. We also say kudos to the former Speaker Tonye Harry. Though, Harry didn’t realize it earlier to separate legislative work from politics until the indirect harmer of the Executive beckoned, and the criers and winners emerged in the present assembly.
All of them are of the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP). Otelemaba Amachree represents Asari Toru constituency 1, while Kwane represents Khana constituency II. We want Amachree to always recite his promise of being loyal to the people, inlure of being unwanted loyal to politicians, especially the Executive and the PDP. However, he should relate with the Executive as this does well to democracy. He should practice transparency than he preaches it.
Governor Chibuike Amaechi, whom a portion of the constitution empowered to dissolve Harry’s assembly did well, but should also empower the Amachree’s assembly with independence. Amaechree should know that an old woman does not get tired in a dance she knows how to dance better. Having been in the House since 1999, he should always remember the unflinching support of 31 out 32 members of the House, to emerge the new Speaker, and not let them down.
We are not saying that his is Integrity Group, because we all have seen the outcome of the Dimeji Bankole’s INTEGRITY in the House of Representatives he once headed. It is not a sugarcoated story. We do not want a Rivers State where the quest for political positions is always a tug of war. The House was formed for resolution of troubles and not to incubate and hatch troubles. We do not need controversies and antagonisms from people of this House regarded as Honourable members, except that they love to be known as Dishonourable members from the members of the general public and addressed as same.
Good governance is what majority of the Rivers masses want, and this must be enthroned. We cannot achieve this in Rivers State if there is no transparency practiced practical forthwith than we have read on the pages of newspapers in the past.
The interest of the people should be paramount to this House and their genuine verdicts respected and enhanced. Rivers State should as a matter of urgency burgeon from politics of low quality to utopia. Recycling buffoonery agenda will never propel in enhancing a true democracy in the state. All the aggrieved persons in the past governments should be made to see need for the growth of Rivers State instead of pummeling their views to the soil.
Whether Amaechi has performed well or not, the House should not be aggressively critic of his government, but should help in modeling blue prints that could foster the realization of good governance in the state than many have said were achieved.
The devilish mindset of outwitting each other we once experienced happened in the House should be abrogated, except that the Honourable Members think that the Rivers State House of Assembly is a battle field, and then, we wonder the kind of respect they wanted if the Joint Task Force (JTF) is deployed to the House. We do not need diaries of attacks from this House, but diaries of good legislation.
Liquidating any member of this House will not bring about any fortune. We do not need gunmen representing democracy in this state again. No gunman should lay in state for anybody in this state. The fact that any member of this House or the general public is a critic should not be meted out with his or her untimely death. Killers are weaklings!
Political warring should be constructively dialogued, instead of taking to violent action. Violence must be eschewed and divorced from the political corners and in the state generally. No constructive criticism should be dismissed as mere insinuations. It is critics that most times set agenda with which government runs, whether they are in saddle or on the sand.
We were tired of House members inciting statements intended to mar themselves, and we hope that Amachree’s House will not tow this line. There should never be an imaginary battle of any kind in the House, but when factual battles occur, they should be attended to without any reserved energy to seeing that justice prevailed. We do not want and would not like this House to be shrouded in controversy. We do not need a monumental deceit.
Any project lying idle for some years in this state, especially those inherited from the past governments, should be attended to. It is Rivers money that is wasting if they are still allowed to deteriorate. Using soft critical stance by the House, to be loved by the Executive, may not do the state well, when the issue required hard reviews. But we are not saying that the House should resort to unruly opposition of the Executive. No House member should carve an unnecessary niche for any hogwash political ambition.
Any developmental projects meant to ease the sufferings of the people should not be toyed with. It should be made as a law that contractors must show proof that the projects awarded to them have been completed before they can drink and rest their cup. Rivers State must stop being run like we are in the days of the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) initiative.
Let all in Rivers State always stand for the truth and justice. We remember the late Dr. Marshall Harry who was the National Coordinator of the Campaign for the Realization of a South-South President (CRESOP). Here we are today with President Goodluck Jonathan, from the South-South, but Marshal is not alive to see that his initiative later paid. Our works should speak for us, instead of rented people speaking for us. Let our deaths, if need be, be for a good cause.
Hon. Monday Ndor of blissful memory, a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Khana Constituency 11, under ex-Governor Peter Odili, but was murdered in his house, on 19th August, 2001, for being a staunch critic against injustice and untruths, he has not been forgotten by the true masses of Rivers State. But those who dented their names with bad leadership which Ndor was fighting against are today the pivot of caricature from the members of the public. Although, the general critics have always been tagged as “calumnists and detractors.”
Praise singers do not make our profile to rise. Even though the profile may rise, it is temporary. The new Rivers State House of Assembly members should do their work without the infusion of politics in it. They should leave politics alone. They should know that they are not Amaechi’s opponents, but his correctors. They should not work to unseat him, except that there is need to do so, and this must reach the eyes. Not even a member of the public should be working hard to unseat Amaechi, but we must bombard him with the best of ideas that would compel him to work or leave office for CHANGE.
