Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has called on traditional rulers to join hands with the government to fight oil theft in their domains to give the country stability and unfettered progress.
He told traditional rulers to take charge of their domains and make life difficult for ill-guided youths involved in acts of economic sabotage in their various communities.
Fubara spoke while declaring open the 117th/118th Combined Quarterly General Meeting of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers at their Secretariat in Port Harcourt on Monday, July 22.
The governor maintained that it should be the concern of everybody to support the country’s progress, which he said could only be possible with high production of crude oil.
He said: “I want to see a different society from this hour. The Federal Government is doing everything to see that our crude oil production level increases. But every day, we are having issues of illegal bunkering pipeline vandalism and all the associated problems.
“All these people that are carrying out these evil acts, they’re not coming from the moon, they live in our communities, we know them. I am charging this council, as a first step, to taking charge of your communities.
“If there is any information that you need to share with us, share with us. Overall, we need our country to progress. We need our country to be stable. We need our country to grow economically. It is through only one means: our oil production.
“We are charging you, to please go back and take charge of your communities. I assure you of our support. If there is anything that we need to do, if it means government sending you some little support financially to create your own vigilante to help, we will do it.”
Fubara expressed delight and gratitude to God that the council was still existing despite the protracted political travail confronting the state and his administration.
The governor explained his actions were devoid of politics but driven by the performance of the statutory duty of government, especially in the appointment of a new chairman to steer the affairs of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers.
He said: “There is nothing new that has happened. The immediate past chairman served out his tenure, and the tenure is usually a one-year duration.
“It is at the discretion of the Governor to extend such tenure. I believe, from my own assessment, there was no reason to extend it, but rather to bring in fresh blood that can bring the council together.
“And what we did, we did in good faith because our communities, our people are important to us. I want to commend the chairman who is barely three months in office, to have been able to put this meeting together; it shows leadership.”
Fubara said it was the first time after the appointment of Eze Chike Worlu Wodo that he would address the council, and charged the new chairman, who understood the current situation, to lead the council aright.
He said: “I want you to lead this council with the fear of God. I want you to lead this council with the understanding that you are dealing with people that are independent, and feeding their own families.
“So, you need to have a spirit and heart of accommodation and tolerate them. Make your point very straight when you talk to them. I strongly believe that they are mature enough to give you the required support.
“So, at this point, I want to charge every one of you that is here; God at this time has made you leaders of our communities, leaders of our towns, leaders of sections.
“So, know that this appointment that you have is not a mistake. It is God that gave you the chance. Make good use of it.
“Continue to make peace the most important agenda of your reign and locality. It is only on that, which it will now reflect in our State.
“We need total peace in our State. We cannot develop in the face of crisis. We can only improve when every person is living peacefully.”
Fubara said he had been furnished with a comprehensive list of names of all traditional rulers of First Class, Second Class and Third Class totalling over 150.
The governor explained that the state government could not take in one block the purchase of their official vehicles, going by that number, and urged them to consider the option of monetizing it because most of them owned their cars already.
In his address, the Chairman of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Chike Worlu Wodo, used the opportunity to thank Governor Fubara for maintaining peace in the state in the face of the unwarranted political crisis orchestrated by selfish and overzealous politicians.
Eze Wodo, who is the Paramount Ruler of the Apara Kingdom in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State, urged the Governor not to fall into the traps of detractors.
He said: “All of us know that those that are over-heating the polity have one aim: to make the State ungovernable so as to make it ripe for a declaration of State of Emergency. Please, Sir, advise your supporters to avoid every invitation to violence.
“May I also appeal to our people on all sides of the political divide to remember that we have nowhere else to call home apart from Rivers state. So, we must not allow our interests to destroy the peace, stability and growth of our State.
“As traditional rulers, we owe our State the duty of making it peaceful by cautioning our children against violent acts.
“We, therefore, cannot caution anybody if we allow ourselves to become overly partisan. We will then lose the moral authority to reprimand those causing trouble when we take sides. So, I say, let us all work assiduously to maintain peace in Rivers State.”
On his part, the Rivers State Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Charles Amadi, noted with concern the disturbing development and progressive degradation of values in the various communities.
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He said: “But, by close examination of the problems in the various communities of Rivers State, compared with the activities in the various settlers of the various communities, we found out that we are on the path of diminishing returns with many of the communities cum settlers, plunging into crisis.
“It has become increasingly obvious that we must examine the roles of the Rivers State traditional rulers in other to improve efficiency and curtail the crisis in our various communities.
“However, I strongly commend those traditional rulers of Rivers State that have displayed their good roles effectively and efficiently in the various communities that yielded relative peace that has ushered in good governance in Rivers state.”
