“What opportunities are given to the people by their governments? We have to create opportunity for all, so that the corresponding expectations of responsibility from all, is deserved. Politicians who have been lucky to form governments have deliberately weakened our institutions to escape accountability.
In Rivers State, how have we responded to the bile and bigotry that have characterised our politics and governance structure since 1999 and escalating daily? We were a communal people, loving of the other. What is happening today is therefore alien to us and constitutes a serious threat to our sense of a common future. How old was Spiff when he assembled the best brains and hearts to govern us?
We have to rise above petty prejudice and swear eternal fidelity to the just causes and pursuits of every Rivers man, woman and child. I can choose to be both APC and a Rivers man, PDP and Rivers man, doing well for my party and my State. The two are not mutually exclusive. Lagos and Rivers States were at par in 1999. Today, Lagos is on auto-pilot, Rivers is struggling to stand erect, let alone move.
Great strides of four years can be destroyed in one day if we don’t embrace our commonality. What has become of us and our State must leave a consuming sense of loss in all of us. It is time again to mobilise the Rivers spirit to acknowledge the dreams of our forebears, set our own goals and give hope to our young. It is time to lift these artificial weights from the shoulders of our men, women and children.”
~ Dumo Lulu-Briggs (DLB)