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From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The Ogoni ethnic nationality has declared that the four local government areas that make up the area would vote for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, to sustain the Governor Nyesom Wike-led government’s track records.
The areas declared this through a group known as Ogoni Sim Vanguard (OSV), in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday, stating that they did not believe in ethnic politics.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of OSV, Mr. Marvin Yobana, said they declared their support for the governorship candidate of the PDP, Mr. Sim Fubara, after they had critically analysed the capacity of all the governornorship candidates from the different political parties in the state.
Yobana dismissed the assertion that an Ogoni man is more eligible for the position of governorship than any other ethnic group in the state, stressing that they want a candidate that would sustain the transformational renaissance witnessed across the state.
He explained: “It is in continuation for the struggle to ensure youths participation in governance and at the political level, for younger person to involve in government, to be given elective position so that they could bring in their strength to bear in terms of governance.
“So, we look at this government critically; out of all political parties, which of them has seen the development needs of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District, but the PDP has chosen someone who is a son of Ogoniland by extension from Opobo. This is a man who has shown diligence in his work, who has been loyal and who has been consistent in his service to the state that has so been chosen by this government.
“So we say, if the governor (Nyesom Wike) in his wisdom has chosen him, why don’t we, the youths from this senatorial district, come together to support him and to sell the idea and visions of this governor down to the grassroots, so that we can sensitize our people to ensure that there is nothing like vote-buying? And, so, they can go and collect their PVCs, that they should be ready to come out enmass to support this young man Siminilaye Fubara.”
“We are here to dispel those rumours; some persons say why are we supporting Sim Fubara an Opobo man, while we have Ogoni sons running for same political position. Rivers State has 23 local government areas. Out of the LGAs, Ogoni extraction has four local governments. And, we know the four LGA cannot win the remaining 19 LGAs. This is why we are not bringing an Ogoni governor, we are bringing a Rivers governor.
“We are not saying that we are bringing an Ogoni governor. That is not the agenda. We are bringing a Rivers governor. Anybody who is from Ogoni and wants to become the Rivers governor should also sell his idea to the rest of the 19 LGAs. As a group, we are focused and determined to moblise our people to support this vision.
“Every election year, there has always been an Ogoni man running for the office of the governor and that does not exclude any other ethnic group from running. The issue is, what are chances of winning? What platform are you running on? Do you want to also tie the Ogoni people on your failure and waste their votes?
Yobana added: “Even when we did not support Wike in the past election, but, it didn’t stop the government from bringing development to the state. We are talking of the person that will come and build on the existing developmental strides of the present administration.”
Meanwhile, some Ogoni indigenes are also contesting for governorship position, including Senator Magnus Abe (Social Democratic Party) and Leesi Gborogbosi (Action Peoples Party).
