ZONING OF GUBER: RIVERS HAVE TIDES I didn’t plan to bore you with innuendoes but to deal with the vexed subject of zoning of Governorship of Rivers State with surgical precision. Before we delve into the contentious waters of Rivers politics and whip up sectional sentiments, I must state emphatically, that zoning is not alien to the politics of the state. It does exist. That’s the reason no Governor picks his Deputy from within his enclave. The first civilian Governor of Rivers state was Chief Melford Okilo from Emakalakala an ijaw village in Ogbia in present day Bayelsa State. His Deputy at the time was Dr. Frank Adele Eke from Woji, an Ikwerre community in present day Rivers State. The second civilian Governor was Chief Rufus Ada George from George Ama in Okrika and his Deputy was Dr. Peter Odili from Ndoni in ONELGA, both of Rivers State. The third civilian Governor was Dr. Peter Odili and his Deputy was Sir. Gabriel Toby, from Opobo Kingdom, both of Rivers State. By virtue of a judicial intervention, the fourth civilian Governors were Sir Celestine Omehia and Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi and both were from Ubima, an Ikwerre community, and had a common Deputy in Engr. Tele Ikuru from Andoni, an ijaw community. From the foregoing and upon closer observation, a trend is established. Governorship and Deputy Governorship is shared across a divide: Riverine/Upland or vice versa. Right from Governor Okilo to our present Governor, that has been the arrangement from both the creation of Rivers state and the inception of democratic rule in the state. Nowhere was senatorial arrangement the basis for deciding the nomination or candidature for Governorship of Rivers State. It has never been done before and it will not start now, as that would amount to changing the goal post at the middle of a game. The formula is Upland/Riverine as the evidence above shows. The argument that Governor Peter Odili has done the tenure of Rivers West Senatorial destrict and Governors Omehia and Amaechi have used up the tenure of Rivers East Senatorial district and that it is now the turn of Rivers South East Senatorial District to produce the Governor falls flat on its face due to the fact that both Governor Rufus Ada George and Governor Chibuike Amaechi are from the same senatorial zone. If senatorial zone was therefore the consideration and tradition for zoning governorship in Rivers State, Governor Amaechi ought not to have been nominated, let alone elected since Gov. Ada George had already used up the tenure of that Senatorial zone. The fact that he of the Upland extraction became Governor and was elected along side a Deputy of Riverine extraction meant that he abided by the age-long zoning arrangement and his senatorial district was an inconsequential consideration. Another point to be noted is that, if Senatorial delineation was the basis for deciding the zoning of the Governorship of Rivers State, how come it wasn’t the principle for deciding the Deputy Governorship. The evidence shows that the Deputy Governors of Dr. Odili, Sir Omehia and Rt. Hon. Amaechi, all Upland Governors from different senatorial zones, were themselves not only Riverine, but were from the same senatorial zone. So why would the principle apply to the head and not also the Deputy. The argument therefore doesn’t stand. It is merely the concoction of convenience by a political class that wishes to rewrite our history. If we even agree that Senatorial delineation rather than Upland/Riverine dichotomy is the basis for zoning Governorship, what happens when a Senatorial zone is re-delineated to place a community like Ubima that has produced two Governors from Rivers East to Rivers West, because it is possible. Does it mean that Ubima becomes eligible again when it becomes the turn of Rivers West? Zoning other than by the natural principle and the traditional arrangement of Upland/Riverine is susceptible to legislative changes and is not a reliable basis for zoning the Governorship of Rivers State. It is important to also state that Governor Okilo, the first civilian Governor of Rivers State, who governed Old Rivers State, which included present day Bayelsa State, was bound by the same principle. His Deputy was Ikwerre and Upland, while he was of Ijaw extraction and Riverine. There was no talk of Senatorial zoning then and there can’t be such an arrangement now. It would have been awkward to even allocate his term to a Senatorial zone since by virtue of the creation of Bayelsa State, the Senatorial delineation has been altered and there is no limit to how many more times it can be altered. There is also a reason Dr. Odili didn’t pick a Deputy from an Upland community from another Senatorial district like Rivers East. It was because it was against the spirit and tradition of Rivers politics. We have an age-long tradition. Rivers have tides. Governorship comes and goes from Upland to Riverine. That is the tide for change; the parameter upon which zoning is decided. For 16 years Governorship has been at the Upland. Is it not time for the tide to ebb at that end and rise at the Riverine fronts? Rivers have tides; and it is a fundamental principle of nature. Let us allow equity prevail.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 04:40:32 +0000
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