…Calls for permanent solution to flooding in Orashi
By: Felix Ikpotor
ABOUT THE FUTURE OF RIVERS STATE, NOT TO FIGHT OR ATTACK ANYONE
Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Rivers State for the 2023 elections, senator Magnus Abe has said that his campaign would be issued based and about the future of the state.
He said his campaign won’t be to fight anybody or to defeat anyone.
Abe stated this during the special dedication service of the SDP campaign at St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Garrison, Port Harcourt.
He said: “Our campaigns is about the future of Rivers State; It is about where we will like to see our state going in the future, the things we will like to see, and the opportunities that we will like to open up for Rivers people.
“Our campaign is not designed to fight anybody, or to defeat any human being, or to punish anybody, or to attack anybody, NO!
“It is also not designed to teach anybody any lesson. It is not designed to run down anybody”.
He added: “We are actually very grateful to all those who have contributed to the growth and development of our state and we must honour them in whatever way that we can.
But that is not to say that we do not understand that the state can be better than this, and that we don’t know that there are things we can do better. That is what this campaign will be about”.
On the controversial Executive Order 21 passed by the state governor, Nyesom Wike the former federal lawmaker said he has advised his campaigned director to meet with the state ministry of education to find a way out of when they need to use government facilities for campaigns.
“People have called me to say that the government passed a directive to say all those who want to use public schools to campaign should pay 5 million naira and people are threatening fire and brimstone. The SDP will not fight anybody.
“I don’t want to use the word “directed”, because Senator Wilson Ake who is our DG campaign-I call him the real Distinguished-so I will not say I have directed him”.
“I will rather say that I have advised Distinguished Senator Wilson Ake to reach out to the Commissioner for Education and discuss with him how we can make the SDP campaign peaceful and easy where we need to use public facilities without attacking anybody, without fighting anybody,” he said.
Senator Magnus Abe also used the medium to call for a permanent solution to the flood situation in the Orashi region of the state.
“Before I proceed, let me particularly offer my concern for our brothers and sisters in the Orashi region who once again have been inundated by flood water. It has become almost a bi-annual ritual that people will be driven out of their homes by water and stay out for months only to come back to struggle to retrieve whatever they can find after the water has receded.
“We all know that we cannot continue to live like that. We must find a permanent solution to this problem. It cannot be that every year when the place get flooded, we buy mattresses, we bring succour for that year and then two years later we are back to the same situation.
Like I keep saying to people, we cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. Every human challenge has possible human solutions and we must come together as a people to look for a permanent solution to the challenges of our people who live in the low land areas.
“These are solutions that are possible. I have been to the Netherlands. If you go to Amsterdam, they will show you where the River used to be and where the people are living now, where the center of the city used to be in the river.
“They have converted the river, instead of being an instrument of torment, it has become a tool in their hands. They use it to enhance their transportation. They use it to enhance their agriculture. They use it as part of what makes their lives unique, livable and happy.
And I believe that if we come together and apply our brain, our technology and our engineering to some of these challenges we will be able to find permanent solutions,” he said.
He thanked the Rivers State Governor and the Rivers State government for their quick and intervention.
“We must not play politics with everything. There are some things that are above and beyond politics.
We thank the government for what they have done, and we should encourage our people to work with the government and those that have been sent to bring relief to work together in such a manner that the relief will actually help the people that need it the most. So I use this opportunity to commend the state government for that intervention,” he stated.
