Rivers Politics: Kalabari must produce the next Governor – Kengema Osaki advocates

The call for  citizens of Kalabari ethnic nationality to form a formidable front in order to produce the next governor of Rivers State in 2019, is gradually gathering momentum.

The Chiefs and Elders Council of Kengema Osaki, a Kalabari political advocacy group visited the CENOSIA council of Chiefs in continuation of the group’s sensitization campaign for Kalabari unity and solidarity.

Addressing the CENOSIA Council of Chiefs, the spokesman of Kengema Osaki, Elder Lolo Tamunoemi Ibieneye called on Kalabari to unite and for the first time present to Rivers people a unanimous Kalabari bid to occupy the Rivers State governorship seat in 2019. He lamented the current situation in which no Kalabari person occupies a top political office both at the state and national levels. He called on Kalabari people to see the Kalabari quest for the 2019 Rivers State governorship seat as a challenge and should therefore rise up to the occasion.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the Chiefs and Elders Council of Kengema Osaki, Chief Bekinbo Soberekon said that Kalabari people have been their own undoing, as they have in the past openly sabotaged the Kalabari quest for governorship. Saying that “Kalabari is in great difficulty, the blind can see it, even the dump can hear the calamity that has befallen Kalabari. The Kalabari nation must rise up lest they perish.

” Our ancestors are crying in their graves. Kalabari must therefore eat, sleep and dance the 2019 quest for the Rivers State governorship. We must spread this gospel and vote any Kalabari person irrespective of political party affiliations.

“After eighteen year (20 years by 2019) since the return to civil rule, it has become abundantly clear that once an ethnic group has not produced a governor in Rivers State, that ethnic group is shoved aside as an orphan economically, socially and politically which makes power rotation imperative. Unfortunately, Kalabari people are their own worst enemies in the race for governorship.

Chief Soberekon enjoined Kalabari to massively back one of their own and ensure total victory this time around no matter who is involved. Concluding that “politics is like the wars of old that our forebears fought and Kalabari has never been defeated in battle”.

Responding on behalf of the CENOSIA Council of Chiefs, Chief Berembo Saturday Wariboko of Krakrama town said that the realization by  Kalabari people that they have been their own worst political enemies, has made the solution to the problem easier. ” With this realization, the problem is half solved and Kalabari should immediately seek ways to make sure that history does not repeat itself”. Chief Wariboko expressed pleasure that the Kengema Osaki group cuts across party lines and advised that the message of Kalabari unity should also be taken to the Royal Fathers.

In his vote of thanks, Chief Anderson Ikiriko JP said that CENOSIA consists of 14 out of the 33 Kalabari communities and that they would be actively involved in the 2019 quest for governorship. He urged the Amayanabo of Kalabari, HRM King T. J. T. Princewill to embrace and spearhead this call for Kalabari unity. He urged the Kengema Osaki group to dig into the causes of disunity in Kalabari and proffer solutions. Saying that ” if this disunity is a disease, we shall cure it this time around. I urge Kalabari people to value and respect each other. We must stop discrimination among us. We must spread this good tidings to the nooks and crannies of Kalabari land”.

The Amayanabo of Okpo town, HRH King Diamond Tobin-West, in his concluding remarks said that nobody is disputing the Amayanabo stool with the Amayanabo of Kalabari, therefore the Amayanabo should use his position to unify the Kalabari Kingdom. King Tobin-West urged the Kengema Osaki group to engage other ethnic nationalities in Rivers State in mutually beneficial dialogue