SpicyTricks

By Dr. Kinikanwo Orlu

At the inception of the campaigns for the 2015 gubernatorial elections in Rivers State, the Peoples Democratic Party in the state through its standard bearer, Chief Barr. Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike, promised Rivers people of a new Rivers State through his NEW RIVERS VISION. Some have attributed the word NEW as an acronym for the initials of the names of the incumbent governor, Chief Barr. Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike; while others stuck to the denotative application of the word new, which refers to "something recently made, discovered, or created". In other words, something good that is different from the "usual".

Though there are a good number of people who do not decipher what NEW stands for as used in the context, "NEW RIVERS VISION", however, going by the things he said during his campaigns; for example, that Rivers State will be the new Lagos State, one would deduce that the word NEW as used in the context means the later assertion. You will recall that Lagos State stood as a State led by an opposition party for 16 years but was able to develop because of the actualization of new plans for the state.

Vision as defined by the Webster Dictionary "is a thought, concept, or object formed by imagination ". Vision, therefore is an abstract idea or plan, but can be actualised by those who planned it and in this case, the NEW RIVERS VISION TEAM. From the foregoing, one would easily expect new things to start happening in the state, but one thing is to plan, and the other is to bring the plan into reality. And this is where the players in any team are very critical to the success of that team. It is not disputable that the immediate past administration under the leadership of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, did a lot to salvage the State from its deplorable condition and provided a road map for sustainable development; thus one could say that for anything to be new from what the previous administration has done, it should be able to improve the state tremendously from where the immediate past administration stopped.

It is no longer news that those who make up the Team of the NEW Rivers Vision are recycled politicians. These politicians have served in various capacities in the past, ranging from governors, commissioners, senators, Ambassadors, Local Government Chairmen, to Directors of boards etc.

Top on the list of this team led by the incumbent governor Chief Barr. Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike, are two former governors of the state, Sir (Dr) Peter Otunaya Odili and Sir Celestine Ngozichim Omehia.

Sir (Dr) Peter Otunaya Odili, nicknamed "The Golden Governor ", piloted the affairs of the state from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007. At his exit, the state was in a total despite. His administration was accused of gross mismanagement of Rivers State funds through the diversion of public funds, incessant and reckless spending or donations to political friends without embarking on sustainable developmental projects; this earned him the name "Donatus". Years after he left office, he has continued to justify his actions in several fora. He maintains that the only way to make people feel the presence of the government is to share the money. He believed and still believes that no matter the number of projects you put in place as the governor, without embarking on "stomach infrastructure” the citizens will not feel the impact of the government. But the question is; "Who benefits from the sharing apart from political friends?" "What happens to the masses that do not have access to the who is who?"

Sir Celestine Ngozichim Omehia though had a brief stay in office but followed the footsteps of his immediate predecessor. This was understandable because the recycled politicians were all around him. The others which include, Chief Olaka Nwogu, Bro. Felix A. Obua, Chief Austine Adiele Opara, Senator Adawari Pepple, Prince Uche Secondus, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, Chief Sergeant Chidi Awuse, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, amongst others, have all held one or more positions in the past and left nothing to show for it except sharing money amongst themselves. Take out some time and go to their roots to obtain first hand information on the impact of these recycled politicians on their people, and you will be tempted to ask; "Can any good thing come out from someone who performed abysmally in the past and has not shown a remorse from his actions?” "Can any good thing or a NEW thing come out from a team which believes that the dividend of democracy is sharing state funds amongst themselves, leaving those who are not close to them to wallow in abject poverty?" "Can the NEW RIVERS VISION as asserted be actualised by these recycled politicians?"