A member of the Rivers Elders Forum an activist, Ann-Kio Briggs, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of betraying the trust of the people of Rivers State and Nigerians.
She said the party’s failure to act decisively left residents of the state to suffer the consequences of prolonged political crises.
Speaking on Channels Television last night about the state’s political developments, she lamented that despite the loyalty of Rivers people to the PDP since 1999, the party had failed to rise to the occasion when it mattered most.
“I definitely feel, as a stakeholder and elder, let down by the PDP political party because, since 1999, we have always voted, including me, for the PDP.
“If they had stepped in and done what they should have done from the beginning, not just in Rivers State but as a political party so prominent in the Niger Delta, the PDP would not find itself where it is today,” Briggs said.
According to her, the PDP allowed internal divisions and power struggles to weaken its influence, adding that the party’s negligence worsened the political situation in Rivers State, forcing the state to grapple with damage that could have been avoided had the PDP acted responsibly.
Tinubu’s Intervention
While Governor Siminalayi Fubara has openly expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for brokering peace in Rivers, the Rivers elder distanced herself from such sentiments, indicating that politicians may have their own reasons to be thankful.
‘’Definitely not, even the president himself will be aware that not everybody in Rivers State is going to be eternally grateful to him or to even the minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, and all the politicians, as a matter of fact.
“I am not as happy or grateful to the APC party as the governor is; he is the politician, and I am not,” she said, noting that both APC and PDP have played roles in deepening the crisis.
She insisted that the most profound lesson has not been for the politicians but for the electorate.
“I think the biggest lesson has been learned by the people of Rivers State, the electorate, to know that we have rights that are much bigger and more profound than the rights the politicians believe they have.
‘’They won’t be where they are without the people of Rivers State,” she said.
