Many people were taken by surprise on Wednesday following the news that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has declared a House of Representative Member representing the Bonny/Degema constituency, Farah Dagogo wanted.
WIke had in a statement by Kelvin Ebiri, his Special Assistant on Media said Dagogo is wanted for hiring cultists to attack the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in Port Harcourt.
“The governor has hereby directed the Rivers State Police Command to arrest Hon. Farah Dagogo for hiring cultists who stormed the PDP secretariat in Port Harcourt, and disrupted the screening of aspirants for various elective positions.
“The Police must as a matter of urgency arrest Farah Dagogo, wherever he is and must be made to face prosecution.
“Already, some of the hoodlums hired by Farah Dagogo have been arrested and will be made to face the full wrath of the law”.
In his response, Dagogo accused Wike of using the plot to stop his screening as a gubernatorial aspirant on Thursday.
Ibrahim Lawal, SA Media and Publicity to Dagogo said the lawmaker is not a cultist and did not send anyone to disrupt the screening exercise.
“Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo was never at the Party Secretariat where the screening process took place. He is a Governorship aspirant and not a National or State Assembly aspirant.
“The Governor has taken the decision to credit Hon. Dagogo as a sponsor of Cultists in order to stop the screening of Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo is scheduled for tomorrow, April 27, 2022, for the Governorship position of Rivers State.
“That the directives for the arrest of Hon. Dagogo violates the spirits of Section 14 and 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
(As Amended).
“That the Inspector General of Police should direct the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State not to heed to the directives of the Governor in this circumstance. If the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State considers it incumbent to invite Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo, he is willing to make himself available on the receipt of an official invite from the police after tomorrow’s screening and not before.
“Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo is a respectable and law-abiding Federal Lawmaker representing the people of Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives”
The relationship between Dagogo and Wike strained when the Rivers State governor orchestrated the removal of Uche Secondus, the immediate past national chairman of PDP>
Dagogo in an interview with Punch accused the Southern governors of exhibiting dictatorial tendencies.
When asked if it was true that governors have taken a stronghold on the party, with the choices and the way the new leadership of the party has emerged, Dagogo responded “I will just take that as a rhetorical question because you and I know that is the reality on the ground. The governors are not only dictatorial; they are now garbed in military democratic attire.
“The so-called consensus has the imprimatur of the governors, their determination to bulldoze their agenda and force it down the throat of others and it was glaring for all to see”.
When asked if he thought the PDP was fair with how it handled the outgoing National Chairman, Uche Secondus, who is also from Rivers, Dagogo responded “Definitely not! As a Rivers man, I cringe that Secondus could be treated in that manner and I felt very bad and sad that Rivers people could be gloating about such folly. What happens to fight for Rivers’ interest? This is all about 2023, and the southern PDP governors, in unison, decided to sacrifice Secondus to position themselves for the vice-presidential position. I can tell you authoritatively and for free that southern governors from the PDP are all sell-outs; none of them is contesting for president. They are all jostling and lobbying for the position of vice-president. And that was why Secondus was sacrificed.
“One of the major problems we have as a party is the insincerity of our governors. Apart from being dictatorial, they are treacherous and always out for their selfish interests. You see, in 1896, the revered artist, Jean-Léon Géromein, in his painting, ‘Truth Coming Out of the Well,’ had this set of politicians in mind with his drawing. He narrated how the Lie said to the Truth, ‘Let’s take a bath together, the well water is very nice. The Truth, still suspicious, tested the water and found out it really was nice. So, they got naked and bathing. But suddenly, the Lie leapt out of the water and fled, wearing the clothes of the Truth. The Truth was furious as she climbed out of the well to get her clothes back. But the World, upon seeing the naked Truth, looked away, with anger and contempt. Poor Truth returned to the well and disappeared forever, hiding her shame. Since then, the Lie has continued to run around the world, dressed as the Truth, and the society is very happy because the world has no desire to know the naked Truth.’
“With the above, it is very glaring that the Lie is now still masquerading, fully dressed as the Truth and continues deceiving the society, because the society itself has no desire to know the naked truth. That is exactly what the PDP governors from the South are doing. For some of us, we see through their antics and deceit and are miles ahead of them. Secondus is being unjustly vilified today for insisting that he will see out his court cases. But you see the deception in the ‘Lie dressing as the Truth?’ Nobody is asking who first took him to court. As an individual, I abhor injustice in all forms and I strongly believe Secondus was unjustly treated”.
As the 2023 presidential election took a front seat in the national consciousness, Dagogo pitched his tent with former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar who is Wike’s political enemy.
Dagogo was photographed with the Vice-President the day he declared his intentions to vie for the nation’s top job. The reaction on social media was wild.
A week later, Dagogo was presented with a gubernatorial nomination and expression of interest forms by a group, the Youth Mandate.
Speaking to the press after submitting the forms, Dagogo made several subtle remarks targetted at Wike.
He said: “My goal will be to serve the people and not rule. Like I had earlier said, ruling over the people has a dictatorial feature, but governing and serving to give power to the people thereby entrenching the true tenets of democracy. Our government will not be sectional, it will be for Rivers people and those residing and doing businesses in the state. That is why we have to appeal and lift that perpetual injunction that had prevented EFCC, ICPC, NFIU and the likes from looking into the account and finances of Rivers State. There must be real transparency and accountability.
“A blueprint anchored on Diplomacy Information Security and Economy, DISE, in line with the ideas of the founding fathers of Rivers State, will be made public soon. It will explain fully our vision and mission for actualizing all the aforementioned and more.
“I have said it before and I am repeating it, I am not waiting for an endorsement. I have never depended on endorsements in my political journeys and I will not start now. We have God and we have the people, Rivers people should rest assured that victory is very certain.”
Also, during a solidarity visit by a socio-political group, One-On-One-Network, at his residence to show support for his ambition, Dagogo remarked that the state was too big for dictators.
He said: “Rivers State belongs to us all. We cannot continue to pander to the wishes of a few who have turned themselves into dictators with the desire to continue mortgaging our rights to choose and decide who will govern us.
“We have to recreate history, we have to liberate ourselves from this shackle by ensuring that people who have the good interest of the state and its people at heart are supported to govern.”
