A remark about Rivers State made by President Muhammadu Buhari dominated the headlines Friday, March 25, 2016.
On Thursday, at the National Executive Council meeting of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, the President tagged Rivers as the deadliest state in Nigeria. “I think that more Nigerians are killed or killed themselves in Rivers than in any particular state,” Buhari said as he admitted the failure of his government in curtailing violence during the Kogi and Bayelsa government elections, and the River rerun legislative election.
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Our reporter met with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Mr. Emmanuel Aguma who spoke with The Trent in his personal capacity as a citizen of Nigeria. We asked him what he thought about Buhari’s remarks about the ‘deadliest’ status of Rivers.
“First and foremost, I find the president’s statement quite unfortunate. But, I also do not blame him because he does not live in Rivers State and he only acts on information he is fed. I believe that the information given to him is totally and completely distorted,” said Aguma, who is also the Attorney General of Rivers State at an interview session on Friday, March 25, 2016.
“More people are not dying in Rivers State than in Borno State, where Boko Haram is performing unconscionable acts of violence. More people are not dying in Rivers State than in Yobe State. More people are not dying in Rivers State than in the North East region. Even right now, in Benue, the amount of people being killed in Benue is unthinkable. We heard the case of Agatu where they [the security agencies] are saying they never saw graves with 300 people, but that is their business. The fact is that more people are dying in Benue State than in Rivers State.”
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On who is responsible for distorting the facts to the President, Aguma said:
“So I believe that statement of the president was informed by the falsehood being peddled by former Governor Amaechi and his gang and being fed to the President through the Department of State Security’s leadership and it is totally and completely false.
“If such people are being killed, how come the Federal High Court is still sitting in Port Harcourt? How come the Federal Court of Appeal is still sitting in Port Harcourt? How come the State High Court is sitting? How come the Federal Secretariat is working? How come Intels is here? How come the banks are open? How come the markets are there? How come the street hawkers are hawking on a daily basis? How come bus services are working? How come you have never heard any exceptional bomb explosion with headlines like ‘300 People Dead’, ‘Man Shoots At Market, Everybody DEAD!’?
“You have never heard any such thing. The only thing you hear is gangland killings in Omoku and election day killings by APC members. That is all you hear in Rivers State.”
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As a concerned citizen of Rivers and Nigeria, Aguma said he was inviting Buhari to Rivers for a spot assessment so that he would have the correct security information about Rivers.
“So, Mr. President, Sir, (I want to appeal to him) the people feeding you with information, that made you come to this conclusion, are feeding you with lies and more lies. Rivers is part of your territory. Please come, visit us and see. I am asking you not as a government official. I am appealing as a citizen, for you Mr. President to come and see for yourself, and appreciate for yourself, and know for yourself that there is nothing wrong with Rivers State. Nobody is killing anybody. It is sheer propaganda.
“It is also necessary for you to come and know that Rivers people have nothing against you, Mr. President. The person Rivers people have anything against is Amaechi, Rotimi Amaechi for his misrule of the state.
“You have never ruled Rivers State before, they have no basis to assess you. You have no problem with the government of Rivers, you have no problem with the people of Rivers State.
“But Rotimi Amaechi has problems with them [the people of Rivers], they will never vote for him. The one they gave him in the past is enough, they don’t want anymore of him. That is the bottom line.”
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In his message to Buhari, Aguma maintained that Nigeria’s minister of Transportation is a major liability to the APC in Rivers saying the political party, which has just lost a legislative elections in the state was ‘practically dead’ in Rivers because of the presence of Amaechi in the party. He also accused Amaechi and the APC of perpetuating violence and killing people in the state.
“And it [the rejection of Amaechi] has affected the fortunes of APC in Rivers State and made APC a practically dead political party in Rivers State.
“So, they will tell you, it is because people are being killed that is why they are losing elections. They are the ones killing people. They will tell you that Rivers State is insecure; they are the ones responsible for the insecurity. They will tell you all sorts of stories, but whatever they tell you is what they are doing.”
He also warned the President that he was being baited by Amaechi with the intent of causing him to declare a state of emergency in Rivers.
“They are doing this so that your opinion, Mr. President, will be biased. So that you would declare a state of emergency; so that you would do all sorts of unprintable things to Rivers people.
“Rotimi Amaechi’s rampage and assault on River State is akin to a man who builds a house, puts it out to let, but warns tenants that it is cockroach infested, it is snake invested, it is reptile infested. Is such a landlord sane?”
