A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Kingsley Wenenda Wali, has said the state will need a governor that has content and character to take over from Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike in 2023.
This is as he said there are plans for broad-based reconciliation within the ranks of the APC in the state.
Wali said Rivers people should not bother about where the governor comes from but his ability to fix a broken state.
He said: “Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, which presupposes that the ultimate decision of who becomes what rests with the people.
“So, I think we should bother less about where any person comes from and focus more on where we will bring people who have content and character to be able to fix a broken state.”
Wali, who is the Convener of Unity House Foundation (UHF), a good governance advocacy group, said members of the APC are already talking to each other on reconciliation.
The APC chieftain said: “There have been plans for a broad-based reconciliation within the party. People are talking, people are responding and people are communicating.
“I don’t think that peace is normally a walk in the park, it is a consistent type of effort trying to address people’s fears.”
He stated that two chieftains of the party, Hon. Igo Aguma and Hon. Emmanuel Deeyah, are free to think on how best the APC should be run in the state, saying that they should not be condemned for thinking differently.
Wali said: “Like I said earlier on, people have different reasons why they are in a political party. They have their own methods in their heads, which they think is the best way to achieve political power.
“Like the two gentlemen you mentioned, Igo Aguma, my friend and younger brother and Hon. Emma Deeyah, my friend, are people who have sat down and as adults, come to the conclusion that they have a better idea of how they feel that APC should be run.
“I do not think that it is my place to condemn them to say why are you thinking differently. Now, do I agree with the language of dissent, that is a different thing altogether.”
