PORT HARCOURT — WHAT appeared to be a fall out of the incident between Governor Chibuike Amaechi and wife of President Goodluck Jonathan at Okrika, when the latter paid a two- day visit to the state, manifested, yesterday, in Port Harcourt as Chiefs of Okrika, home town of the first lady, vowed to protect what they termed the “rights of Okrikans to the Port Harcourt waterfront communities.”

The Chiefs in a statement by Chairman, Okrika Divisional Council of Chiefs, Senator Tari Sekibo, said they would not hesitate to head to court to defend their rights. “We hereby reiterate our resolve never to roll over and die anytime the name Okrika is mentioned. Our fathers were in the fore of the struggle for the creation of Rivers State.”

The statementsaid: “Okrika people will do everything lawful to protect their rights in Port Harcourt waterfront communities, even if it means going to the highest court in the land,” he said.

According to the Chiefs, Okrikans were not opposed to development but it should have a human face. Continuing, the Chiefs accused the media of extreme bias in the report of the incident between the governor and the first lady when the former conducted the first lady round a model school project in Okrika. “

Having despaired of finding the truth even from those publications whose mast heads espouse truth as their guiding principles, having sadly realised that balance and fairness in reportage or analysis are too much to expect of some publications and their analysts, we have decided to place before the Nigerian people our own view of what happened”, they said.

The Chiefs recalled that governor Amaechi had made six trips to Okrika since becoming governor and on each occasion he allegedly spoke to them “discourteously”. “Discourteously talk and address the chiefs, leaders and people of Okrika”, they said.

Adding, they said what played up between the governor and the first lady at Okrika during her visit was the “sum up of long forbearance, patience and endurance by the suffering people of Okrika. If anyone expected her to be mute and allow governor Amaechi to brow beat her in her ancestral homeland, they should think again “

Continuing, they said the first lady did not err in their own judgement over the way she spoke to the governor. According to them she merely drew his attention to realities in the area. “Here are the points she raised.

A civilian governor should not use the word “must” in issues of this nature; His Excellency should dialogue with the stakeholders and reach an agreement. Land in Okrika is a serious issue and especially on Okrika island “etc.

The Chiefs who drew attention to work by some columnists in some national newspapers (Vanguard not included) on the incident said their interpretation was skewed and a product of compromise.

Meanwhile, they acknowledged some of the feats of the government in Okrika which they said included some health centres, erection of primary schools in some parts of the community