By Mark Lenu
Community dwellers of some Local Government Areas of Rivers State have reminded the newly elected LG chairmen of how underdeveloped their communities are, insisting that the chairmen have no excuse this time around.
They said with the local government autonomy granted by the Supreme Court, the newly elected chairmen can not say they do not have funds at their disposal as reason they couldn’t develop the communities of their respective LGAs.
The dwellers who are peasant farmers and fishermen from some of the LGAs of the state informed the chairmen that they deserve better life too like others, adding that the sufferings in peasant farming and fishing are one too many.
They said suffering has forced them to be older than their peers, as they also lament the lack of medical care by the government, saying that a lot of them still fish and farm with sickness in their bodies.
“We are using this medium to remind our new chairmen that they have to develop our communities because we deserve better life too.
“We don’t have any other place to go to except our communities as we are not privileged like others. We need electricity, potable drinking water, good roads, school and health care facilities,” they said.
The state now has new executive chairmen and councillors who were elected last Saturday, October 5 across the state without the participation of conventional security agents.
The Action Peoples Party won over 98 percent of the chairmanship and councillorship seats, due to Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s endorsement of the party.
Though, some aggrieved groups in the state loyal to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike had vowed to challenge the local government election in court, alleging that the election was conducted in defiance to court order.
