A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Okpara, has said the outcome of the Rivers Local Government election showed that the people of the state were tired of oppression and dictatorship.
The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State asserted that Rivers people have been liberated due to the success of the October 5 local council elections.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, Okpara said the oil-rich state now has a governor who wants to serve the people, not an emperor.
He said, “What it portends is that Rivers people are tired of oppression, Rivers people are tired of emperorship, Rivers people are tired of dictatorship.
“The difference now is that we have a governor who wants to serve and not be served, not a governor who Adolf Hitler is his mentor or (Donald) Trump. Rivers people feel liberated; Rivers people are happy; they came out in their numbers to vote, and they are excited.”
Okpara also berated the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for trying to control the structures of the state’s PDP and the All Progressives Congress.
The former ally of Wike said he dumped the minister and moved to Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s camp because of ideological differences.
He said, “A man wants to control the APC structure, but he wants to be in control of the PDP structure in a state? How do you explain that?
“We were political associates, but now we are no longer. The point of our disagreement was when he supported the APC in the 2023 presidential election at the expense of the PDP.”
Okpara applauded Fubara for defying all odds to hold the state’s local government election despite the PDP and APC withdrawal, stating that the governor had no option.
He said, “We should give credit to Governor Fubara because by the end of the month, any state that does not have (a) democratically elected local government structure will not receive money. What’s the implication? It means that civil servants at the local government level will not be paid? Families will be deprived.
“So, Governor Fubara was helpless in this situation, sacrificed and ensured that rather than go on a party line, let there be an election so that the state would continue to benefit from FAAC allocations.
“We cannot describe that as an anti-party because his party is where he belonged. If you listen to his speech today (Sunday), he said he is still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, and his party opted out of the election. How do you explain that? A PDP state? His party opted out, so he decided to hold the election.”