Desmond Iwuchukwu
A non-partisan group in Rivers State, the Rivers Conscience Initiative, RCI, has called on candidates contesting for elective positions in the 2023 general election must clear their names of corruption allegations, before the general elections.
The group in a statement alleged that the race for the 2023 polls has been hijacked by persons with questionable characters.
The RCI also condemned political parties that have produced candidates of questionable reputation who are wanted by security and anti-graft agencies.
The Rivers Conscience Initiative in the statement signed by the Chairman of the group Kalada Wilson and Secretary Ken Izidor also declared support for the efforts of the current administration to recover misappropriated state funds and prosecute persons alleged to have looted Rivers State coffers.
The group equally frowned at the alleged actions of the Rivers State Government to shield some persons from arrest by the EFCC while arraigning others and therefore called on the Standard Bearer of PDP Siminialaye Fubara and Tonye Cole to first clear their names of allegations of corruption before seeking the mandate of Rivers people at the 2023 gubernatorial election.
The RCI further called on Governor Wike, to urgently cooperate with the EFCC to vacate the perpetual court injunction stopping the anti-graft agency from investigating Rivers State finances.
”The RCI equally “deplored the present government’s ambivalence in shielding some persons from arrest by the EFCC while arraigning others and therefore called on Messrs. Siminialaye Fubara and Tonye Cole, the Rivers State governorship candidates of the PDP and the APC respectively, to first clear their names of allegations of corruption before seeking the mandate of Rivers people as Rivers people cannot accept a fugitive as governor”.
”The RCI further called on Governor Wike, “to urgently cooperate with the EFCC to vacate the perpetual court injunction stopping the anti-graft agency from investigating Rivers State finances. The governor should seize the moment and show uncommon courage by leaving a worthy legacy in this regard, as this obnoxious injunction has made Rivers State a den of barefaced treasury looters and robbers”.
The group also regretted the culture of silence in Rivers State and called on the people to speak up and take their destinies into their hands.
The Rivers Conscience Initiative, in the statement also declared its intention to rescue Rivers state from bad leadership and governance.
The RCI also called on Rivers people to step forward and join in this course, for the state, and for posterity.
