•Says economic sabotage inimical to dev
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has tasked traditional rulers to take charge of their domain and assist the government in fighting crude oil theft and other criminal activities in the state.
Governor Fubara who gave the charge at the 117th/118th Combined Quarterly General Meeting of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers in Port Harcourt on Monday, tasked the monarchs to ensure that they make life difficult for ill-guided youths involved in acts of economic sabotage in their various communities of the state.
The Governor stated that it is the duty of everybody to support ensure that there is stability, unfettered progress and economic advancement of Nigeria, adding that this is possible only when there is high production of crude oil, as the mainstay of the national economy.
He said: “I want to see a different society from this hour. The Federal Government is doing everything to see that our crude oil production level increases. But every day, we are having issues of illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalisation and all the associated problems.
“All these people that are carrying out these evil acts, they’re not coming from the moon, they live in our communities, we know them. I am charging this council, as a first step, take charge of your communities.
“If there is any information that you need to share with us, share with us. In the overall, we need our country to progress. We need our country to be stable. We need our country to grow economically. It is through only one means: our oil production.”
The Governor also charged the new chairman of the State’s Traditional Rulers Council, Eze Chike Wodo to lead the council in the right direction and with the fear of God, and urged other monarchs to promote peace in the state.
He said, “I want you to lead this council with the fear of God. I want you to lead this council with the understanding that you are dealing with people that are independent, and feeding their own families.
The Governor emphasised: “So, at this point, I want to charge everyone of you that is here; God at this time has made you leaders of our communities, leaders of our towns, leaders of sections.
“So, know that this appointment that you have is not a mistake. It is God that gave you the chance. Make good use of it, continue to make peace the most important agenda of your reign and locality. It is only on that, that it will now reflect in our State.
“We need total peace in our State. We cannot develop in the face of crisis. We can only improve when every person is living peacefully.”
In his address, the Chairman, Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers and Paramount Ruler of Apara Kingdom in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State, His Royal Majesty, Eze Chike Wodo, thanked the Governor for maintaining peace in the State in the face of the unwarranted political crisis, urging him not to be distracted.
He said, “All of us know that those that are over-heating the polity have one aim: to make the State ungovernable so as to make it ripe for a declaration of State of Emergency. Please, Sir, advise your supporters to avoid every invitation to violence.
“May I also appeal to our people on all sides of the political divide to remember that we have nowhere else to call home apart from Rivers State. So, we must not allow our personal interest to destroy the peace, stability and growth of our State.”
Eze Wodo enjoined members of the council: “As traditional rulers, we owe our State the duty of making it peaceful by cautioning our children against violent acts.
“We, therefore, cannot caution anybody if we allow ourselves become overly partisan. We will then lose the moral authority to reprimand those causing trouble when we take sides. So, I say, let us all work assiduously to maintain peace in Rivers State.”
On his part, the Rivers State Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Engr. Charles Amadi, noted with concern the disturbing development and progressive degradation of values in the various communities, requiring focused attention on the roles of the traditional rulers in Rivers State.
