Sen Birabi Urges Wike, Amaechi To Concede 2023 Guber Tickets To Ogoni People

A former Senator representing Rivers South East in the National Assembly, Bennett Birabi, has appealed to the two political leaders in the state, Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi to zone the 2023 governorship tickets of their parties to candidates of Ogoni extraction.

Birabi said the call was imperative in the spirit of justice, fairness and equity as other ethnic blocs in the state have produced governors, deputy governors, speakers and chief judge except the Ogoni People.

While briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday morning, he urged the two political leaders to pick their govrrnorship candidates from among the Ogoni to appease the people who have suffered “55years of neglect and marginalization.”

He said his call is to draw the consciousness of Rivers people to the neglect and marginalization of Ogoni people in the state.

He said, “I have called this press conference purposely to appeal to the two leaders of the two political parties in Rivers State, namely governor Nyesom Wike and Rotimi Amaechi, leaders of the PDP and APC respectively.

“My appeal is based on six fundamentals of justice, equity, fairness, reason, conscience and political morality. They are the authentic basis for any state or country to exist in peace, grow and develop.”

He, however, emphasised that Ogoni have suffered devastating internal crisis resulting in the death of prominent leaders and over a thousand young men and women in varying circumstances, which resulted in pains and anger that have persisted till date.

He lamented that every government in Rivers State instead of helping to heal the wounds, has taken advantage of their weakness and continued to water the seed of disunity and disinformation to keep Ogonis in perpetual subjugation.

He said further, “We don’t even decide who should represent us in any election or speak for us in our internal issues. Government decides. And to make matters worse, the present government has unwittingly further widened the divide by taking sides with one faction and turn around to blame the entire race for not uniting when in fact the government is fueling the disunity. Unity has become the excuse for our marginalization.

“I want to ask the two political party leaders, if unity was the criteria for concession of political power, how united was the Ikwerre tribe when Dr. Peter Odili handed over power to the Ikwerres? They were far from united
but he simply did it because it was expedient.

“Also at the national level, following the annulment of Abiola’s election and his subsequent death, the Federal Government conceded the Presidency to the Yorubas and both oarties had to choose a candidate from the West amidst the obvious disunity in the West. It was not done because the Yorubas were united, it was done because it was expedient.”

He said in the (55) years of Rivers State, every political block in the state, namely: Ikwerre/Etche, Orashi, Kalabari, Igbani, Andoni, Okrika block has at one time or the other headed one or two or all three of the arms of government except the Ogoni

“Can I ask these two gentlemen who runs the parties in Rivers State? If you were from Ogoni, would you be happy to be called ‘fellow citizen(s) of Rivers State?’. This is a matter of conscience and I would like to know who
in his right mind has the moral high ground to claim that Rivers State has been fair to all concerned.

“There must be someone amongst his minions from Ogoni that he can trust to continue the works he has started. Also, Governor Amaechi during his own tenure, mortgaged the whole of Ogoni to one or two of his own Ogoni minions who were ready to lay down their lives for him.

“Will it not be also spiritually rewarding for him to reciprocate such loyalties for the Ogoni people? We agree that politics is a contest, but with the examples cited above and for the
sake of equity, justice, fairness and political morality, I am appealing to the Rivers people led by their political leaders in the two political parties to pick their next candidate from Ogoni.

“The choice should be at the discretion of the two political parties, who they think will best serve the Rivers people. If the issue of unity is still a problem, I thank God, Dr. Peter Odili is still alive, they may need to consult him on how to hand over government to a
disunited people.”