John Diidi
On Sunday, July 1, and the early hours of Monday, social media spaces were stormed with Pictures from members of the Rivers Unity House, a group within the All Progressive Congress, of the Omueke stream road in Isiokpo, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, showing a collapsed section of the road.
The narrative was to make Rivers people believe that the internal roads constructed by the Governor were a scam or if you like, a charade.
As accusations and counter-accusations flew around the social media space in Rivers State, it became necessary for the truth to be told.
A trip to Isiokpo today became important so as to carry out an independent assessment of the issues in contention. On arrival at Isiokpo, the internal roads constructed by the Rivers State Governor were evidently seen as a motorcycle tour was carried out through the Phase I of the construction which was commissioned by the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, down to the Phase II where construction works are still ongoing.
It is important to note that the construction company in charge of the Isiokpo Internal Roads, is Lubriks Construction Company LCC owned by Chief O. B Lulu Briggs whose son, Dumo Lulu Briggs, a director in the company, is also a Governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress.
Hence, the accusation of a substandard work by the All Progressive Congress points back to one of their Party chieftains who is a director of the Construction Company.
To the Disputed Omueke stream road; on reaching the spot, a worker with Lubriks informed me that construction works are still ongoing. Being that the road had been prone to flood water once it rains, it forced the construction company stop asphalting at a certain point in order to allow for the construction of drainage systems to take the flood water down to the stream which also consists of Phase II of the Isiokpo Internal roads.
The unfinished portion of the stream road consisting of sand and stone base washed away by flood water was what members of the APC took to social media to insinuate that the internal roads commissioned on the 21st of June 2018, had collapsed.
The truth is, no newly constructed internal roads collapsed in Isiokpo and the narrative with pictures being spread on social media is nothing but cheap propaganda.
At a time when social media possess a threat to professional Journalism, this trip was important to maintain the ethics of the profession and keep the public properly informed.
And as Noam Chomsky rightly said, “Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state”.
