Pro-Jonathan group, Niger Delta Renaissance Organisation (NDRO) has implored Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike to refrain from heating up the polity with his ambition to govern Rivers State.
In a statement released on Wednesday by its Spokesman, Mr. Kingsley Bejikini, the Organisation cautioned him against decisive tendencies, saying his gubernatorial ambition amounts to insult on the collective interest of the people of Ogoni, Rivers South East Senatorial district and indeed Rivers State, after his kinsman Rotimi Amaechi.
The organisation lamented that despite the contributions of the Ogonis to the present democracy, an individual will seek to hold the people to ransom due to his inordinate ambition.
“As a strong supporter of Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid, the NDRO views the stance of the minister as a threat to the ambition of the president and the unity of the state,” read the statement.
“NDRO observes that there are sound minds in Ogoni land and the senatorial district who stand a better chance to deliver the dividends of democracy and would not be confrontational to the president as the Wike group wants people to believe.
“If the war of speeches accredited to the minister is true, then he must be stopped in order not to jeopardize the overwhelming popularity of President Jonathan in the state.”
The expressed regrets that the minister and the state PDP chairman are bent on frustrating the peace in place due to their selfish ambitions, which negate the aspiration of President Jonathan for the people.
It urged stakeholders in the state to explore avenues to settle the political differences between the governor and the Presidency, stressing that both parties working together would sway more Nigerians towards the president for the 2015 polls than the likes of Wike and his co travellers.
In another development, Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Leyii Kwanee has urged journalists to always display social responsibility and professional integrity in cases of political crisis.
Kwnee was speaking on Wednesday at the conference hall of the Ministry of Justice, State Secretariat complex, Port Harcourt while delivering a keynote address at a media roundtable with the theme, Rivers Political Crisis: Issues on Media Ethics and Practice, organised by the Beacon Newspaper as part of activities to mark the second year remembrance of late Minere Amakiri.
He argued that it was wrong for the media to take sides in political crises, pointing out that the guiding factor for media professionals should hinge on the truth, is sacred in journalism.
He urged the Nigeria Union of Journalists to rise as a profession by setting up an effective disciplinary committee to sanitize the profession, as journalism is both a profession and a realm of governance.
Kwanee, who is also Chairman, Parliamentary Exchange and Mentorship Programme of the Pan African Parliament, advised the media professionals to be strict on the ethics of the profession as any profession without regard to ethics is liable to quackery and charlatanry. He appealed to the media to save the present republic by resisting the temptation to overheat the polity because they owe the nation a social responsibility for its survival.
“The media can derail our republic with what they publish. The media can help our democracy and republic to survive,” he said. “The media should be guided by the truth and public interest. In so doing, our democracy will stabilise, mature and grow; and Nigeria will be a leading democracy in Africa in the near future.”
Speaking further, kwanee cited instances in the PDP crisis in Rivers State where the media failed to be accurate, fair, objective; and lacked balance. He said that some media were referring to Hon. Evans Bipi as the speaker of a faction of the House or even the new speaker.
“In this scenario, the media have also been divided. Some have taken partisan interest and are involved in political propaganda instead of reporting accurately, fairly, objectively and ensuring balance.
“For instance, during the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly, where Evans Bipi claimed to have emerged as the speaker, some media were addressing him as the speaker of the faction of the House. This is a blatant lie, inaccurate, unfair and lacks objectivity.
“Also, some journalists were involved in partisan speculations without facts, which flout the sacredness of facts in journalism. Some of the reports were so partisan that efforts were not made to balance the stories. Where the stories were balanced, it was unfairly represented. A quick look at the National Network newspaper of September 11-17, 2013 edition with the banner headline: ‘Atiku, Amaechi Anoint Princewill Next Governor; Abe, Peterside, Feyii, Kwanee kick. This story was absolute nonsense. My support for Governor Amaechi is based on my belief in him and not tied to the so-called ambition, which only the National Network knows about in their imagination
“The issue here is that the crisis has contaminated journalism practice and the credibility of the profession. The crisis in view of its escalation requires social responsibility and professional integrity on the part of the media. The media are a veritable social institution in the society that have the responsibility of disseminating information by keeping surveillance on events in society. They hold the government accountable to the people as watch dog and fourth estate of the realm. Everybody looks upon them to carry out these responsibilities without fear or favour. The purpose is to serve public interest.”
Still, Kwanee commended the media for organising the roundtable discussion and urged them to build the media as a powerful social institution and pillar with which our democracy can rest on.
“I am happy that the issue of media ethics and practice on the Rivers political crisis is raised by the media and not politicians for discussion. Politics is a game of permanent interest and not permanent friendship,” he said.
“The interest is subject to shifting preferences. It is also a game of agreement and disagreement, faction and fraction, conflicts and resolutions. As politicians are divided in their interest, so have the media been divided in their interest in the crisis, some which run foul to the ethics of their profession.”
