Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs has hailed the undisputed leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC Rivers state and Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for his courageous leadership, even in the face of provocative intimidation and applauded the great people of Ogoniland for coming out enmasse to welcome the leader and show their undiluted solidarity and loyalty to the APC under the able, dynamic and progressive leadership of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi at the hugely successful Free Rivers Development Initiative mega rally, which held in Khana on Saturday February 10, 2018.
Indeed, all roads led to Bori in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State on Saturday the 10th of February 2018.
In one accord, the APC family including National Officers; Deputy National Secretary of APC, Chief Victor Giadom; The National Vice Chairman of the All Progressive Congress ( APC) South-South zone, Ntufam Hilliard Etta, Ibrahim; Dasuki Jalo, the All Progressives Congress, APC, National Youth leader etc., the Senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District, Senator Andrew Uchendu, other stakeholders and members of the party, travelled to the land of Ogoni on the platform of the Free Rivers Development Initiative to sensitize the people of Khana on the need to hold fast and to formally inaugurate the Free Rivers Executives in Khana for the foremost task of mobilizing the grassroots for the great party.
Leading the entourage was no other than the Hon. Minister of Transportation, the leader of Rivers State chapter of the APC and Former Governor of Rivers State, who during his speech, reminded the Ogoni people of his friendliness and undying love for them. “If there is any politician in Rivers State that will say he is from Ogoni, I am the one. I challenge anyone to come out and say the same. When I was the speaker of House of Assembly, I built an office complex in Uniport and I named it ‘KEN SARO WIWA ENGLISH HOUSE’. I never knew who Ken was, I never met him before but I loved his ideology and principles. When I was the Governor, I built all the roads in Bori, I sent Ogoni people oversees to study, I built health centres and schools in Ogoni Land.” he said.
The jubilant mood of the proud people of Khana at the square, was a testimony to the fact that they were also inspired by the great words of other great leaders of the party at the event :
1. “The only way to pay back for the good governance of Rt. Hon. Chibuike is to be in APC. I hope you know that all the roads in Bori where we are today were built by the government of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi? And after he left office, there hasn’t been any other meaningful project in Khana. So, my brothers and sisters, our best option is to stand by him and be in APC. Nobody should distract us; nobody can distract us…” ~Chief Victor Giadom
2. “This part of the country has been a stabilizer of the Nigerian politics since Independence. I want you to know that with the leadership of Hon. Amaechi, with the leadership of the party and with the allowance of President Muhammadu Buhari, the South South is once again in 2019, going to play its rightful role in the politics of Nigeria.
So, to gather here like this is a source of joy to us because we know that the activities of 2011 and 2015 that almost took away that role that God created us for, will be restored in 2019. Disregard the letters that are flying left and right; president Muhammadu Buhari by the special grace of God is from the South South. We are looking for the right name for him that will represent the fact that the man is from the South South. And let me tell you why; in terms of appointments, in terms of infrastructural development, in terms of his plan for Nigeria, it seems to me that the South South is uppermost in his mind.
In 2019, our voices must be heard. Our vote must count and it will count on the side of APC. With the kind of leadership you have, change will come to Rivers State; an APC member wil
will occupy the brick house.” ~Ntufam Hilliard Etta
3. “On behalf of the youths of Nigeria and the APC, I bring you greetings from Abuja. We are here, we have seen and we are satisfied that APC has come to stay in Ogoni Land. And I want to tell you that you have a leader whom you should be proud of; the person of His Excellency, Chief Rotimi Amaechi. He is in the center of political activities in Nigeria; whether somebody likes it or not; and it is God. So, give him all the necessary support and cooperation. He will take you to the promise land. Thank you and God bless.” ~Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo.
4. “I’m very happy to be here today; to align myself with Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi. I’ve come to testify that he’s a brother, a son and a friend of the Ogoni people. If I have a way of describing him in Ogoni land, I will call him ‘Mé-dámbàte’.
I want to thank my brother Dakuku for helping to facilitate my movement down to this place today. Without him, I wouldn’t have made it to this place. He managed to stop the Aircraft, and made sure that the Esther of Ogoni land, the ‘Siabe Ikpobia’ one of Bori…made it to this place. I am proudly Ogoni your Excellency. By birth, my father, my mother, my grandparents, great grandparents and children are all Ogoni. So, I’m here today as an Ogoni woman. And I stand for the rights of Ogoni people.
Thank you very much.” ~Lady Joi Nunieh.
5. “I have decided to represent the voice for the voiceless, Ikwerre people have held power for 12 years now running. And in the Ikwerre culture and indeed the African culture, it is ‘turn by turn’. I can’t be a double standard man; I stand and will continue to support the Rt. Hon. Minister when he says power must rotate in Rivers state.” ~Senator Andrew Uchendu
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, who was unavoidably absent at the mega event was however full of praise and appreciation in recognition of the courage displayed by the great Ogoni people and described the Khana event which witnessed an overflow of party faithfuls, as a gathering that was born out of love, pure solidarity and loyalty to the party, stating categorically that Khana was indeed a statement.
“God bless our dear leader, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, God bless the wonderful people of Khana and the entire Ogoniland and God Bless Rivers State,” he prayed.
