Princewill POLITICAL ASSOCIATES (PPA)

       NO 2B ELEME STREET, OLD GRA, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE.

theprinceofnigerdeltapolitics@gmail.com,

 mediaconsultanttpcorivers07261@gmail.com, www.newriversstate.com.

     05-08-11

                                                  PRESS RELEASE

PPA SEEKS DIVINE INTERVENTION FOR RIVERS STATE, FINALLY BREAKS SILENCE ON THE ISSUE OF THE PLANE AND ADVISES PRESIDENT JONATHAN ON TIMING OF SINGLE TENURE BILL

The leadership of Princewill Political Associates held an emergency extraordinary Executive Committee meeting at the residence of its leader Prince Tonye Princewill on the 4th of August 2011 following his return from his UK base. In attendance were the Leader of PPA, himself Prince Tonye Princewill; Chief Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, the State Coordinator; Barr Osima Ginah, State Secretary; Dr Mrs Edith Wele, Women Leader; Bishop Boma Lawson, PPA Administrator; Rev. Dr Ugo Amaechi, leader of the Faith Based Organisations arm of PPA; Chief Eze C Eze, Media Consultant of the PPA as well as other State Executives and Local Government coordinators.

One of the major outcomes of the meeting was the resolution by the Committee to direct all PPA members in Rivers State to embark on a seven day prayer and fast exercise to commit the affairs of the state and the Governor Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi into the Hands of the Lord. This step according to the PPA spokesman is imperative to ensure that the Governor keeps faith with the people that elected him as well as continue with the zeal and spirit that endeared him to the masses during his first tenure. The exercise is billed for the 6th of August to the 12th of August to be followed by a thanksgiving service at Chapel of Solution Ministries Inc, Port Harcourt on the 14th August, 2011.

The leadership thanked the Prince for his recent decision to sponsor some indigenes of the state to the New York film academy adding to the over 100 beneficiaries of the current undergraduate and post graduate scholarships and commended his gesture of extending it to some non indigenes as well. Another major highlight of the meeting was the state of the state and the clear slow pace of government in commencing its second term. The PPA while being privileged to understand the rationale behind it frowned at the timing of the decision to buy a plane in light of the current perception of relative inactivity and the very obvious absence of his Excellency due to national assignments and other distractions. “The government should realise that it will be a victim of the huge first term success and so should expect that in the event that the perception index drops, criticism must follow.”

The PPA leadership pleaded with the people of the state to give the Governor and his government the benefit of the doubt and remember that a mango tree does not produce oranges. “Our Governor waited for our President to constitute his cabinet so he could ascertain who was left and where, he then poured himself into what everyone agrees was a hugely successful sports festival and then had to pull out all the stops to deal with the issue of the new minimum wage and the impending labour strike. Yes the timing of the plane in light of this may leave many troubled at the seeming priorities of this new administration but white will not suddenly become black. As for the minimum wage make no mistake about it, Rivers state can and will pay. But as Chairman of Governors forum Amaechi will not speak for just himself. Those who know him know he is a team player, sometimes to a fault. Do not mistake his defence of Governors to be a lack of appreciation of labour. Rivers will pay not only because we can but because Amaechi is committed to it.”

The leader went on to say, “We all know that if this decision to buy a plane was made in the last few months of the last administration, nobody would have batted an eyelid. Yes the Governor deserves improved safety, yes we will need to loan him away from time to time and yes there are advantages in having an aircraft that requires less maintenance especially when we started the administration with three aircraft and now have just one, but we all must remember that as a child of the courts, the people’s court is a very important constituency that he will not overlook. Some people will never be convinced no matter what the Governor says, but most of us will, if spoken to wisely. We elected him to take decisions on our behalf.”

In a mini press briefing at the end of the meeting where he threw more light on issues discussed, the PPA leader Prince Tonye Princewill also spoke on the trending issue of the proposed six year single tenure for the President. According to Princewill, just like with the plane, the timing of the proposal given the recent events in the polity bordering on issues of heightened threats to security, epileptic power supply, economic instability, unemployment, etc, which are in themselves threats to governance and can void any good intentions the Presidency may have for the Nation. He called on Mr President to desist from heeding to what he termed the “counsel of Ahitophel” - anti democratic elements urging him to embark on an exercise that would distract him from his pursuit of fulfilling the electoral promises he made to Nigerians which would hopefully provide every Nigerian with equitable access to the dividends of democracy. Such exercises in futility the nation cannot afford. We are hungry for change and we want it now. “If he is looking for reports from the past to adopt, why not the Niger Delta Technical committee report?”

Princewill, further stated that as much as the proposal has its merits in terms of the positive cost implications, cessation of conflicts associated with second tenure bids and speedy resolution of the zoning issue by ensuring that leadership goes round, it is coming too close to the heels of major events like the NLC face off with government, the ongoing attempts to resolve the Boko Haram insurgency and other critical constitutional issues, which have already placed a heavy toll on the popularity of the administration. Nigerians whilst not too demanding appear to be a very feeble bunch. It is quite clear that the honeymoon is now over so leaders up and down the country need to begin to make a difference in the lives of their people. In conclusion the Prince stated, “The message I think is clear and since nobody will doubt that the current set of leaders are more inclined to listen, all is not lost.”

Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze,