In most states round the country you could feel the heat already being generated by aspirations around the governorship seat for 2011. But it is a different ball game in Rivers state. 

At the time of this piece except for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) no other party in the state seem to be dreaming of occupying the Government House, otherwise called Brick House. It is not even clear if any other party is on ground preparing even in the shadows for the election.

Matters became even a bit hard for the opposition camp in the state when the former leader of the Action Congress (AC) Prince Tonye Princewill moved over to the PDP.  Tonye was the governorship candidate of the Action Congress at the last election in the state.

After he lost out he organised the opposition into a common platform. Shockingly he came up to say he was moving over to the PDP, a decision many think stemmed from the resolve of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to cross over to the PDP.  Tonye said though it was a hard decision he took but he arrived at it after a wide consultation with different strata of society.

When Vanguard sought to know from the state Chairman of the Action Congress, Mr Suage Badey if his party was warming up to contest the coming governorship election with the exit of its former leader in the state he said at the moment the party had no governorship aspirants. Suage who sent a text to the Vanguard as his response said a guber candidate would emerge from the party’s primaries which have not been fixed.

“We don’t have a governorship aspirant for now. A guber aspirant will emerge when we conduct our party primaries. Am the state Chairman of the party for now. And I have no intention now to run for the office of the governor”, he said.

Action Congress was apparently the only visible opposition in the state.  As it stands now the fate of the party with the exit of its former leader and financier, Prince Tonye cannot be expressly decided by political analyst even though the state Chairman, Mr Suage kept cutting the picture of a worriless party without its former leader.

With the only visible opposition in disarray, many are wondering in the state if the PDP will sail unopposed in the governorship election.

The Action Congress party, AD was among the parties that contested the last governorship election in the state. Its candidate then was Adonye Pepple. When Vanguard spoke with him to find out how his party was preparing for the coming governorship election he said nobody had indicated interest to run at the moment.

He said they were still watching. “We are waiting for the electoral reform before we will know what next to do at the party in the state”, he said

Nothing has also come up from the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) in the state. It is the same story in the Democratic Peoples Party.  The DPP featured prominently in the last governorship election. It had Sergeant Awuse as its flabearer.

After the election which the party sought the tribunal to nullify and lost it went into oblivion. Effort to find out if Sergeant Awuse is warming up for the coming election was futile.  The story is not different with Accord Party that had Bekinbo Sobereko as its flag bearer in the last election.

Accord party slugged it out at the tribunal with the PDP. It had sought the tribunal to also nullify the election.  The matter got up to the Election Appeal tribunal where it was finally struck out for lack of merit.

After the outing at the appeal tribunal, nothing serious seem to be coming from the Accord party in terms of the governorship election. The labour party was also at the tribunal after the governor election and fizzled out soon as its case against the PDP was struck out. The party’s candidate at the election, Mr Ashley Emenike could not be reached to say if he was warming up for the coming election.

It is safe to say that at the moment, Rivers state is calm; the heat generated by the coming governorship election in other states has not got to the state, probably because most of the parties have not commenced preparations for primaries for the election.

Nevertheless, within the ruling Peoples democratic Party, PDP, the election may generate some tension even though governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has been called upon by his party and the state House of Assembly to run.

It would be recalled that the state House of Assembly at a special session it convened recently to mark Amaechi’s 45th birthday passed a vote of confidence on him and at the same time urged him to contest the coming election.

The chairman of his party, Chief G. U. Ake who also spoke at the event also made a veiled appeal on the governor to contest the election.  The governor from all indications enjoys the support of the leadership of his party.  Many had thought that given the foregoing he should sail unopposed but surprisingly the media has been awashed with claims that Senator Lee Maeba would run against him come 2011.

Vanguard called Senator Meaba to confirm the speculations in the media. And all he said was that the voices were probably that of God but he had not expressed gubernatorial ambition.

He said he had not even told his wife that he would contest the election. He said he had also heard from several quarters that he was to run against the governor in the coming election. “But nothing of such came from me. People have been calling me from all corners to know if I will run.

Some said I should contest since I have a very rich political profile. I have not declared any intention, not even to my wife. Maybe like, a pastor said when he called me over the issue and I told him, I did not know where the rumour was coming, the pastor said, probably it was the voice of God”. Senator Meaba is a three time member of the upper chamber of the national assembly.

On its part, the national leader of PEOPLE Progressive party (PPP), Mr Solomon Iyobosa Edebiri (MON) said his party was set to wrestle power from the grip of the PDP round the country. And it would come up with its list of candidates for the elections at the end of its primaries.

Meanwhile, Mr Edebiri called on President Good luck Jonathan to give more attention to the issue of governance than burn energy on the raging debate of whether he should participate in next year’s presidential election.

He said there were several sectors of the nation’s economy begging for serious government attention and as such  it would amount to a great disservice to the nation for  the President at this critical time of our national history to  burn energy on whether he should contest or not.

He said it was sad that fifty years of the nation’s independence Nigeria was still faced with challenges of provision of basic things like power supply, good roads in major cities, portable drinking water, sound educational system, effective security network etc.

He said Good luck should realise that his presidency is a product of providence thence should take practical steps towards alleviating the pains of Nigerians.

“My advice for President Jonathan is to get busy with the business of building a solid foundation for a stronger and united Nigeria.  I wish Mr President could concentrate more on reviving the power system, the electoral reform, conducting a credible election, improving on security, guaranteeing quality of life, improving the image of Nigeria globally, improving our educational system and lots more.

If it is the will of God that he should contest and become the next President, it will surely be so, but he must remember how he ascended to this position, it can best be described as an act of God. So, he should not allow sycophants to distract him for their selfish reasons.

Advising the president to tackle challenges of poverty and underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region the PPP national leader said the security situation had become so bad that in Edo state the people had to resort to traditional means, which is an indication that government had failed in the area.

“Government has failed in this area that was why the Oba had to come out to adopt traditional means to save the situation. And it is working. But it is an indication that government has failed in this area and several others in Edo state.”

“The education sector in this country is on the brink of collapse and something needs to be urgently done about it. Our educational system needs to be regulated and if there is adequate current regulation, then we need to review it and also work on the monitoring system.

Our educational system has been bastardised, quality has dropped beyond pardonable level, people are now employing Nigerians from abroad due to sound quality training and dependable certification they have been given. So, there is needed to take a comprehensive look at this sector and make a change. “

Continuing, he said like several other sectors, the health and power sectors need revolutionary touch.”Any complicated illness is taken abroad for treatment due to lack of standard medical facility in this Country.

People now even go to Egypt, India not to talk of Europe and United States. I urge Mr President to invest the nation’s resources in building one of the best hospitals in the world. We can import experts to join the ones we have and pay them.

In addition to your doing this, we can strengthens the existing teaching hospitals to have the capability to deliver top class medical services in this country.”
He said his party would meet others at the poll come 2011.