Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers, on Saturday, said that the decision of the Southern Governors on open grazing and other issues remain irrevocable and must be respected, stressing that no section is inferior to the other in Nigeria.
He said: “We have taken a position and no going back. Enough is enough, we are not second class citizens of this country, we also own this country.”
The Forum of Southern Governors recently, in one voice, announced a blanket ban on open grazing in all the 17 Southern states.
Wike stated this during a grand reception held in his honour by Ogoni nationality in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area.
He said those opposed to resolutions taken by Southern governors in Asaba, Delta State, should realise that no section of the country is inferior to others.
Wike declared that he has taken further steps to fulfill the resolutions reached by Southern Governors in Asaba.
He lamented the slow pace of the Ogoni environmental remediation, charging the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to relocate its operational office from Port Harcourt to Bori, the headquarters of Ogoni.
Wike stated that his administration had fulfilled the promise made to the people during the 2014 campaign to dualise the Saakpenwa-Bori-Kono Road and award the contract for phase 2 of the project, valued N14 million from Bori to Kono.
He tasked his Commissioner for Power and the incoming chairman of Khana Local Government Area (LGA) to ensure the electrification of all communities in the council that are not connected to the national grid within the next five months.
Furthermore, he charged the incoming chairmen of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme LGAs to initiate and implement projects that will enhance the wellbeing of their people and fight against the menace of cultism in the areas.
Wike, who was conferred with the title: Mene Kwalenu I of Ogoni (a benevolent king) by King George Giniwa, the President of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, assured that his administration will continue to ensure even development of every part of the State.
Mr Emmanuel Deeyah, the President of Kagote, said the reception was organised in honour of the Governor for the unprecedented infrastructural developments witnessed in Ogoni land and other parts of the state since he assumed office.
“In this light, we respectfully place on record our gratitude for the various appointments and elective offices that have come to our sons and daughters through your singular effort, and several infrastructural development programmes and projects that you have executed in our Local Government Areas, both completed and some ongoing are scattered all over the place,” he said.
Similarly, Sen. Magnus Abe, lauded the governor for improving infrastructure in Ogoni land.
“This is not a gathering of the Ogoni people from which any Ogoni man that is proud to be an Ogoni man can afford to be absent.
“A good politician is not the one that has the most number of enemies, it is the one that has the most number of friends,” he said.
Mr Ledum Mitee, the former President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), said Ogoni people will remain eternally grateful to Gov. Wike for his developmental strides in O
