Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, will on Thursday, April 24, 2014 play host to the political association of non-indigenes in the state operating under the umbrella of the Non Indigenes Political Forum (NIPF), an affiliate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The meeting is billed to hold at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
Speaking on Friday at a meeting of the NIPF held at Delta Hotel in Port Harcourt to map out strategies to mobilise non-indigenes across the 21 Local Government Areas of Rivers State for the meeting, NIPF Leader, Barr. Chuma Chinye, said it would be an occasion to be used to formally present the vision and mission of the Forum to Governor Amaechi and the good people of Rivers State. Barr. Chinye, who is the Rivers State Commissioner of Commerce and Industries, also said that the mother of all solidarity visits ever in Port Harcourt would signal the launching of “Operation Enthrone APC in Rivers State in 2015 as the battle for the Brick House has just began”.
Three committees were set up during the meeting and charged to work hard to make the April 24 event a resounding success. The Organising and Supervisory Committee is headed by the Women Leader, Chief (Mrs.) Janet Ijede, with Chief (Barr.) Obinna JK Chukwu as Secretary. Other members of the committee are Hon. Wale Agunbiade, Mrs. Majek SA, Mr. Emmanuel Akpabio, Alhaji Uba Muazu, Alhaji Tanko Yusuf, and Chief Calistus Nwachukwu.
The Contact and Mobilisation Committee has Chief Ade Adeogun as Chairman with Chief Uchenna Okokoba and Chairmen of the Akwa/Cross (Chief Joseph Udoh), Igbo (Chief Simeon Nwonye), Edo/Delta (Chief Joseph Ijede), Arewa (Alh. Halliru Imam) and Yoruba (Alh. Adisa Ahmed) communities as members.
The Media/Publicity Committee has Chief Eze C. Eze as Chairman with Mr. David Iyofor and Barr. JK Chukwu as members.
Addressing members of the various committees, Barr. Chinye said: “The time to prove our readiness to collaborate with other stakeholders in the state and demonstrate our readiness to the people of Rivers State that we are ready to install an APC Government in 2015 has come and this will be proved by the solidarity visit of 24th April, 2014. I have acknowledged the
encomiums on the State Governor on his love for our people and placement of some of us in crucial key positions in the affairs of Governance in Rivers State and this is the time for us to demonstrate that we are very, very much ready for this onerous task of saving Rivers State from the hands of the misguided elements in PDP who want to ensure that the State is
strangled both economically and otherwise and probably deal with some of us for contributing towards the emancipation and development of the State. We should note that this struggle is not that of Governor Amaechi but of every concerned non-indigene residing in Rivers State because if we fail in this battle we are all doomed, if the comments of some of the leaders of PDP criticising Gov. Amaechi for encouraging us are anything to go by.”
Chief Uchenna Okokoba on behalf of members commended Barr. Chinye for exhibiting a high class of leadership since he assumed the leadership of the Forum and assured him of the commitment of members to ensure that the vision and mission of the Forum is actualised. “Some of us have lived in Rivers State since its creation and we must confess that apart from the Government of Diete-Spiff, no other government can be compared in terms of
enhancing the development of Rivers State like that of Governor Amaechi, and that is why we are ready to sacrifice whatever that is needful to ensure that his political vision is implemented to the fullest,” Chief Okokoba said.