Gov Wike's successful peace building measures
There is no denying
the fact that the peace building
measures of the Rivers State governor, Mr Nyesom Wike have been
successful as several security
challenges that are plaguing the
state have been addressed.
The peace building initiatives of the
governor ensured that the
conflicts in four local government areas were tackled and relative peace
restored to the respective communities.
Governor Wike started
the process at Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, ONELGA, where
he met with different stakeholders to set
in motion the process of sustainable peace across the state.
From the Orashi region, the governor's efforts spread across
the 23 Local Government Areas of the
state. The result is the relative peace the people of the state are enjoying,
with their businesses flourishing. There is a Senior Special Assistant to the
Rivers State Governor, with the brief to work
with stakeholders to improve peace in the state.
As a result of the successes recorded so far, reporters
paid by opposition politicians to
spread false propaganda about the security
situation in Rivers State had a difficult time as they did not have communities where they could concoct negative reports.
The unfortunate
murder of human rights lawyer, Barrister Ken Atsuwete has again given
the Rivers APC and their sponsored media
associates the leeway to concoct reports and circulate same. It must be
recalled that the Rivers State Government through the State Information
Commissioner, Dr Austin Tam-George has condemned the murder of Barrister Ken
Atsuwete, with the declaration that the
government will support the relevant
security agencies to fish out the killers.
Two newspapers on
Wednesday started the renewed media violence on the psyche of
the Rivers people and the entire
country as they commenced the
publication of concocted reports devoid
of facts. The two newspapers, Vanguard and The Nation of Wednesday, August 31, 2016 published reports on their front
pages with the false claim that the peace initiative of the governor,
exemplified by the ongoing amnesty
programme for repentant cultists
has failed. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
A close analysis
of the two reports of an event that supposedly took
place in Ogbakiri, Emohua Local Government Area shows that it was a contrived
report handed over to the two reporters, mainly to impugn the success of the security measures
of the Rivers State governor.
All through the report, no verified community leader was quoted and no police personnel was
quoted. The reporters simply quoted one "Mr Nyema" whom they
described as "as a community
source". All the paragraphs in the
report are the same, except that the two hatchet men simply paraphrased in some
instances.
This is a paragraph
in "The Nation: 'It was gathered that the trouble started on Sunday
when the paramount ruler of the community summoned Icelanders and Deygbam ' Vanguard
wrote: "It was learned that the killing started on Sunday when the
ruler of the community called both cult groups for a peace talk."
In another paragraph, The Nation wrote: "The Rivers State Police Command
was yet to speak on the incident last
night."
Vanguard version was
"Meanwhile, Rivers State Police Command has not reacted on the incident."
It is disheartening
that reporters working for National Newspapers will allow themselves to be used to spread negative propaganda
against an entire State. It is
even worse that they are being used to discredit a largely successful amnesty
programme for repentant cultists, which is a work in progress.
Even the amnesty programme
of the Federal Government is still being repositioned. Therefore, it is uncharitable for anyone to attempt to pull down the amnesty programme of the
Rivers State Government using media propaganda.
It is no longer
fashionable to concoct reports with the use of unnamed community
sources.
These reports are being sponsored by the
opposition in Rivers State
because of the
several high profile conferences and conventions that have taken place
in Rivers State. The opposition realising that close to two hundred thousand professionals have attended the events in Rivers State in the last six weeks and they now know the
peaceful nature of the state have
resolved to restart their sponsorship of
negative reports.
Peace building is not
a stroll in the park. It is a serious state business that involves different
stakeholders, hence it is bound to have challenges intermittently. But, the reality remains that appreciable
progress has been made in Rivers State
in terms of peace building with the
successes recorded by Governor Wike.
We lose a bit of our humanity each time some misguided
fellows attempt to take advantage of an unfortunate situation
to gain political mileage. This renewed
media onslaught on the Rivers
people is regrettable.
Governor Wike has
invested massively in the security of
the state. The people are getting
value for his investments.
The governor in the
last 14 months facilitated the release of over 140 patrol vans to security agencies, rehabilitated over 20 armoured
personnel carriers and funded the operational logistics of all the
security agencies in the state. He has also instituted an insurance fund
for the families of
slain security personnel while
promoting the welfare of living security
officials.
Most importantly, he has participated in key security operations especially the demolition of the Criminal hideouts of cultists in the
state. The governor's commitment to the
security of the state is unequalled.
*Simeon Nwakaudu, is Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor, Electronic
Media.
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