by crossriverwatch admin
Illiterate thinking should be discarded. It is anachronistic for some ill informed people to think that the presidency must be occupied by somebody from their back of the neck before they are satisfied.
All this hullabaloo about Niger Delta presidency where has it taken us to?
What has the average Cross Riverian gotten? President Jonathan has shown absolute contempt for us. He aided Akwa Ibom to win the case in the Supreme Court over the oil wells. President Jonathan knew the oil wells belong to the Cross River State but maintained a studied silence when the battle was raging.
President Jonathan has the perception that our Governor is not well disposed to his interest in the politics of 2015 and he elected to punish us.
I know what I am talking about. My brothers believe. A ranking Senator told me in Abuja. How can a leader be that vindictive? South/South my foot! President Jonathan bluntly refused to intervene or sought a settlement in a fight between supposed brothers from his own neck of the wood.
This is something Obasanjo did effortlessly when the issue cropped during his time. A former Senator told me in October 2012 in Abuja that President Jonathan was the Chairman of a high powered committee set up by the then President Yar’adua to look into the dispute over the oil wells between Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
The Committee resolved the matter in favour of Cross River. But when the dispute resulted in a court case President Jonathan became luck warm and refused to disclosed that he had been Chairman of a Committee that had resolved the issue in favour of Cross River State.
Again the way President Jonathan handled the Bakassi issue shows that he does care about Cross River. The half hearted directive by the President to his Attorney General that the Federal Government take steps to apply for a review of the obnoxious judgment of the ICJ was bungled by the Attorney General and the President has bluntly refused to fire him!
This is a testimony that he was not serious about the Bakassi imbroglio. The Attorney General showed absolute contempt towards the people of this State but President Jonathan looked the other way. From the evidence on ground it is clear to me that we will have nothing to show for the five years of Jonathan’s presidency.
I can bet on this. So at the end of the day what will we have to show for the so-called South/South presidency?
The last recruitment exercise in the NNPC was pathetic for Cross River. No person was employed from the State. All the positions in the senior cadre zoned to the South/South were cornered by the Ijaw people. Look at his government, how many Cross Riverians are there? President Jonathan only appointed a Cross Riverian as Minister in an inconsequential Ministry.
There is no Cross Riverian among the large number of his personal assistants. There are many hard working people in his Party in the State who can be appointed as assistants in his government. When Obasanjo from the South West was President he appointed a lot of our people into strategic positions.
Kanu Godwin Agabi (SAN) was appointed Attorney General. Our dear Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke was appointed Special Adviser on Public Utility and Chairman Technical Committee on NEPA.
Thereafter he was appointed Minister of the strategic and powerful Federal Ministry of Power. He made history as the first minority to head that ministry.
During Obasanjo’s presidency many Cross Riverians were appointed into several boards and Committees. President Jonathan is only patronising his Ijaw People. Look how he has settled all the former Niger Delta militants. Some of them are stinking rich now.
Cross River is not reckoned with. It is seen as a fringe, periphery Niger Delta State. Let the truth be told. Do you think the Ijaw people reckon with us? What do we have in common with them ?
Otherwise why would they be discriminating against us even in the Niger Delta Development Commission? How many people from Cross River are there in strategic positions! Cross River is not reckoned with in his political equation or calculus.
Politics is not about ethnicity or somebody sharing the same religious faith with one. It is about interest. It is about who get what, when and how. We need competent leadership not ethnic based leaders who don’t know their onions.