Ogoni Stakeholders Forum (OSF) in USA, ‘Wiwa Family of Bane’ and Chief Solomon Ndigbara have hailed the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for choosing Hon. Dakuku Peterside as its consensus governorship candidate.
The Ogonis in USA in statement signed by Mr. TamBari Lebee, spokesperson, OSF, Washington DC, condemned the protest by some Ogonis, who it claimed were rented, over the endorsement of Hon. Dakuku Peterside, as the governorship candidate APC, stressing that Dakuku Peterside is a full flesh Ogoni man’ by all ramification.
The statement read in part; “Dakuku Peterside, originally from Opobo lived in Bori from his teen until the day he got admission into Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), and always returning to Bori as his home when school closed. In Bori, he is popularly known as Dagogo not Dakuku. His mother and two sisters are well known as Ogoni women. Hon. Peterside now in his 40s, spend his 10th, 20th and 30th birthday in Bori, making him a more Ogoni man than an Ogoni man who lives all his life in Port Harcourt. Among many streets he lived on in Bori were formal TTC now Poly, Taabaa Road, Court Road etc. He has more Ogoni friends than Opobo and passed more Christmas in Bane (the house of the Wiwas) than Opobo.
“The selection of Hon. Peterside on Wednesday as the APC governorship candidate in Rivers State ahead of the governorship election next year in the state, is the best thing that happened to Ogoni people. Among any Ogoni politician out there, Hon Peterside is the only politician that has rolled out developmental projects to Ogoni while he was the Commissioner of works in Rivers State. He is responsible for all the tarred roads in Bori, the electrification of many villages of Ogoni under Amaechi’s administration.
“The lawmaker representing Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives who emerged as the party’s consensus governorship candidate during a stakeholders’ meeting on Wednesday will not only turn Ogoni around in terms of development but shall hand over to an Ogoni man after eight years. Opobo is very small; all the development shall be channel to Ogoni who kept him from his teen to adulthood.
“We are therefore urging all Ogonis to embrace his candidacy and vote him in as governor. From all indication, he may be the only optimism available to Ogonis now. We also sympathize with the helpless Ogonis who were either deceived or rented to break the law and eventually confronted by the security agents on Thursday. Ogonis are peaceful people, and need to learn not to be used and abandon by appalling politician who are merely singing their personal interest.”
Similarly, the prominent Wiwa Family of Bane has come out to hail the emergence of Dr. Dakuku Peterside as the endorsed governorship aspirant of the APC for the 2015 general elections in Rivers State.
In a statement made available to the press early Friday morning and signed by Chief Loveday Wiwa and Elder Harry Wiwa, the prominent scions of the Wiwa family expressed great excitement at the news of the endorsement of Dr. Peterside.
The statement read in parts: “We find it hard to contain our overwhelming excitement at the good news that Dr. Dakuku Peterside is on his way to becoming the governor of Rivers State; we are truly elated and give thanks to God Almighty.”
The family called on all Ogonis to see the emergence of Dakuku Peterside as the enthronement of one of their own because he shares the vision and purpose of the Ogonis and would secure the interests and aspirations of the Ogonis more than anyone else.
“We believe that Dakuku Peterside will bring development to Ogoniland given that as Commissioner for Works, he conceptualised and supervised the construction of Bori internal roads which has given the ancient town a huge facelift,” the statement concluded.
Also happy with the endorsement is Chief Solomon Ndigbara, former Niger Delta freedom fighter. In a press statement signed his press assistant, Sorbari Gbakayeghe, Chief Ndigbara, said; “The APC by this action has shown that it is sensitive to the yearnings and desires of the Ogoni people.”
While assuring the support of the Ogoni people to the candidacy of Peterside, Chief Ndigbara described him as a true son and friend of Ogoniland who not only grew up in Ogoni land but was involved in the MOSOP struggle through his relationship with the Wiwa family where he is a son.