2023 Guber: Another Ikwerre Gov Can’t Govern Rivers -Party Leader

Edith CHUKU

A leader of one of the political parties in Nigeria from Ikwerre stock has described as inhuman, the alleged plot by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state to have another Ikwerre man emerge as governor.

The Caretaker Committee Chairman of National Rescue Mission, NRM, Emohua Local Government Area, Loveday Omenhoma, expressed dismay over the supposed plan, adding that though he was from the Ikwerre ethnic nationality, he would never support the agenda for the emergence of another Ikwerre governor in 2023.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with TNN, Omenhoma said “as an Ikwerre man, I can’t support another Ikwerre governor. It would be inhuman to support another Ikwerre governor in the state.

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“(Celestine) Omehia was there, then (Rotimi) Amaechi took over. After Amaechi, (Nyesom)Wike came into power, so there is no point bringing another Ikwerre governor, except some of them want to cause anarchy in the land, but we are agitating for a riverine governor.

“All we are saying is, let there be equity, they say he that must go to equity must go with clean hands. So I can’t agitate for another Ikwerre governor, even if they tell me, ah! as an Ikwerre man we want you to come and become the governor, even if Buhari calls me now and says please come and become the governor of Rivers State, I will tell him that for the sake of equity, I decline, give the governorship to other clan, especially the Kalabari clan, let them rule Rivers State, that is what I will tell him.

“Let there be power sharing, just like now in APC they are talking about zoning their presidential ticket to the south, it would be unwise for them to zone the presidential ticket again back to the north because definitely they’ll lose.

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“In the political scenario we have here in Rivers State, if the ruling party in the state tries to zone their ticket to Ikwerre clan again, definitely they’ll fail, they will fail because within them, they will say is it Ikwerre that will be ruling Rivers State forever.”

The NRM Emohua CTC chair explained that the agenda of Ikwerre governor in 2023, if supported, will “dent the image of Ikwerre and they’ll see us as greedy people, which we are not. Ikwerre man believes in let everybody gain, take, let me take, that’s what we believe, Ikwerre man is never a greedy man.

“Those doing that are not doing it for the interest of Ikwerre people, they are only doing it for their own selfish interest not for the interest of the Ikwerre people. Even the Ogbakor Ikwerre culture organization worldwide cannot even say let Ikwerre man come and become governor again, they won’t do that because they know that they are not the only people in Rivers State, there are other ethnic groups in Rivers State, the brick house need to rotate so that others will benefit.

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“No, everybody will perform based on the resources coming to him, so there is no way a Kalabari man will come there and not perform, Ikwerre man will perform as well but what we are talking about here is equity, yes, we are talking about equity.

“From the onset there is riverine-upland dichotomy, and right from the time of Odili, Odili was an uplander, Omehia, Amaechi, Wike, all of them uplanders and no riverine person has entered the brick house, let’s forget about what happened in the past, democracy has come to stay since 1999 till date, I’m not saying it must be Kalabari man, but if at the end of the day they find a Kalabari man worthy to rule the state, then so be it, and we are also advocating for a youth.”