Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has declared that those fueling the ongoing crisis in the state will eventually be exhausted.
He made the declaration during a meeting with stakeholders of the Ikwerre ethnic nationality at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Fubara said he is committed to working together with the people for the progress and development of the state. He used the opportunity to appeal to the public to stand for what is right, even if it means standing alone.
He said, “I assure you that we are going to work together for the progress and development of our State.
“I just want to appeal to all of you, always stand for what is right. It doesn’t matter whether one million people are on the other side. If you are the only one standing on the right side, stand: you won’t get tired. But those people standing on the wrong side, definitely, will be exhausted.
“Let me also assure you people that are here and the people that you represent: our government will be a government that will give equal opportunity to everybody. It will be a government that will operate a system where no man is oppressed.
“I will not by any means, directly or indirectly, oppress anybody. I want to leave this office and be a peaceful man, walk the streets without security. That is the greatest achievement of a good leader”.
The governor also addressed claims of being ungrateful, stating that he appreciates the support he has received and is grateful for the good gestures that have come his way.
He said: “I want to also say this: Fubara is not an ungrateful person. If I were a bad person, you (one) can’t hide a character that is bad for more than one week, two weeks, one month, one year, two years, eight years, even more than eight years. For 16 years, if I was a bad person, everybody would have known.
“But, even your own child that is in your house that you have given birth to, let us start with even the girl child. It gets to a stage, where your girl child will enter the bathroom and lock the door from behind.
“Even if they forcefully put a feeding bottle in my mouth, if I get filled up, won’t I pull it out? So, when people stand outside and say what they say, I want you people to ask them to tell you in their own good conscience, what is that bad thing; that wickedness, that ungratefulness that this man (Fubara) has ever shown or done. But, I leave that one to God who will judge everybody.”
In his speech, the President General of Ogbakor Ikwerre Worldwide, Eze Godspower Onuekwa, said as Ikwerre people, they had had their turn governing the state, and could not sit by and watch an unknown person destroy the peace of the state.
Fubara promised, on behalf of the government, to take over and complete the Obiri Ikwerre Secretariat, donated N100million for the operations of the organisation, as well as a car gift to the President-General of Ogbakor Ikwerre worldwide.
