2015: How the battle for Rivers State will be fought, won and lost (INTERESTING READ) Recent interactions between The Neighbourhood and some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which included a serving governor, an ally of President Goodluck Jonathan, have revealed how the battle for Rivers State will be fought, won and lost. From all disclosures, the PDP would prefer to lose the Presidency than Rivers, and to achieve the target, Dame Patience Jonathan and a number of governors on the party platform, will execute the onslaught against Governor Chibuike Amaechi and his All Progressives Congress, APC, though it was gathered that should the ‘stubborn’ governor agree to a deal, a well-connected source in the developing power game told The Neighbourhood, he will be spared “a humiliation”. However, the same source declined to substantiate what he described as “safe landing” that could be offered Amaechi. This source would not speak further on the ‘soft-landing’ carrot. Bayelsa state Governor Henry Seriake Dickson will play the godfathers role in this game. At a recent meeting convened outside Rivers State which had in attendance a governor, The Neighbourhood learnt of plans to change Service Commanders in the state. The prelude was the recent visit of Lt-Gen. Kenneth Tobiah Jacob Minimah, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, and today’s promotion of Rivers State Commissioner of Police Tunde Ogunshakin, to the rank of an Assistant Inspector General of Police. The Neighbourhood had in an exclusive exposé in April reported of the imminent removal of the Police Commissioner considered neutral in the power game in Rivers State. The Neighbourhood has been informed by a well-connected source in the plans for Rivers State of what manner of CP to replace Ogunshakin. Since the PDP in Rivers State may not be doing party primaries to choose its gubernatorial candidate for the 2015 election, the national leadership will take over the running of the party affairs, eventually leading to the dissolution of the Mr. Felix Obuah Abuja High Court installed State Executive Committee. The Abuja PDP, it was gathered, has two options it is joggling with over the plan. The first will be to dissolve the Obuah group and in place, appoint a Sole Administrator who will be given sweeping powers though that would be alien to the party Constitution as amended. Another option being weighed is to set up a State Caretaker Committee of 5 members whose Chairman will be from the Ikwerre stock. That achieved, the party will go for intense poaching of loyalists of Amaechi, and by the target date of October 15, the governor would have expectedly lost most of his allies, including commissioners currently in the state cabinet. Such returnees will be given waivers to contest elective offices in 2015, to give the Amaechi camp a run for their money. With Federal ‘mighty’ behind, they will ‘win’ even in strong APC areas. This has been codenamed “Operation Carry Go” and the point man is presently a serving Rivers State Government official. The next phase of the plan will be to subject five Honourable Commissioners considered Amaechi die-hards to intense security surveillance. Security operatives will be commissioned to, as much as possible, harass them at airports. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will open cases against them with an aim not to convict them as there will be no evidence, but to put more heat on them. Fictitious EFCC reports detailing corruption allegations against the 5 commissioners will be published online to secure public conviction. Two weeks to the governorship and House of Assembly elections, more detachment of policemen from Bayelsa and 5 more states will be despatched to Rivers State. Restriction of movement will be imposed on residents 48 hours to the polls proper. Meetings will be banned and the ban implemented in areas considered sympathetic to Gov. Amaechi. The last lap of this operation will come about one week to the governorship election. Dame Jonathan will arrive Port Harcourt will full battalion of heavily armed soldiers and lorry loads of hooded operatives of the Department of State Security whose arrival will be advertised as they will undertake street parades. A mock war will be staged across the state so that most eligible voters will be unwilling to travel to their villages where they would have registered to cast their ballot. Some of the electoral games, The Neighbourhood also gathered, will be rehearsed during the period of the issuance of Permanent Voters Card. The battle for Rivers State in 2015 will come up as the most expensive singular election ever in the history of Nigeria’s often discredited elections. With hustling to boom from mid-September, Rivers residents should be ready to watch drama after drama as the state has the highest price tag placed on it. theneighbourhoodonline/news/othernews/3145-2015-how-the-battle-for-rivers-state-will-be-fought,-won-and-lost.html
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 12:09:33 +0000
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