Rivers ADC inaugurates campaign council, faults Fubara’s administration

The African Democratic Congress in Rivers State has inaugurated its governorship campaign council, with the party alleging that governance has been abandoned.

The 600-member council is chaired by Senator Andrew Uchendu, while a former Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Chimbiko Akarolo, is the Director General.

Addressing members of the council during the inauguration in Port Harcourt on Monday, the state chairman of the party, Chukwudi Dimkpa, charged them to discharge their duties with the utmost sense of responsibility.

Dimkpa said, “Having duly presented the leadership, directorates, departments and membership of the Rivers State 2027 Governorship Campaign Council, and acting in my capacity as the state chairman of the ADC Rivers State, I hereby formally inaugurate the campaign council.

“I charge every member to discharge his or her responsibilities faithfully, diligently, and in accordance with the constitution of our party, the approved terms of reference, and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Dimkpa, who officially handed the responsibility for the party’s governorship campaign in the state to the team, urged the council to work in unity and be result-driven.

“I now formally hand over the responsibility for the coordination and execution of our governorship campaign to the campaign council under the leadership of distinguished Senator Andrew Uchendu as chairman and Honourable Chimbiko Akarolo as Director-General, subject to the overall authority and policy direction of the state party leadership.

“I expect this council to operate as one united, disciplined and result-oriented team. By this declaration, the Rivers State ADC 2027 Campaign Council is hereby formally inaugurated,” he said.

In his speech, the governorship candidate of the ADC, Gabriel Pidomson, expressed strong confidence in victory as he addressed the newly inaugurated council.

He declared that the campaign machinery, with 600 members at the state level and over 6,000 members across local governments, wards and units, would immediately swing into action to ensure victory for the party.

Pidomson reminded the gathering of his long years of political experience, noting that the structure put in place was deliberate and strategic.

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“You agree with me, and I’ve been in this politics for a very long time. The Campaign Council captures over 600 persons at the state level.

“Not just because we want to fill in spaces, but because we are talking about competent persons manning various dimensions of this campaign,” he said.

Describing the composition of the campaign structure as unprecedented, Pidomson said members of the ADC Campaign Council would start work, moving from unit to unit and ward to ward, to ensure the party’s success.

In his acceptance speech, the chairman of the campaign council, Uchendu, regretted that some political elites in the state had turned it into a battlefield, noting that the party would rescue the state from such a grip.

Uchendu alleged that governance in the state had been abandoned, noting that the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara had failed the state.

While noting that the ADC was interested in stabilising leadership in the state, he said the party wanted a situation where the executive, legislature and judiciary would carry out their responsibilities independently.

He noted that the state was not created for one man to own or control, regretting that the recent political crisis had wreaked damage on the state.

“While godfathers wage private wars of ego in Abuja and Port Harcourt, governance in Rivers State has been completely abandoned. An elected government has been decapitated by legislative rascality. Healthcare has collapsed.

“Hospital bills by previous administrations have been left to rot, leaving ordinary mothers and infants without access to basic medicine. Schools are abandoned. Our children sit on the floor,” he said.

Uchendu declared that the party would focus on a non-violent, issue-based campaign, adding that every vote in the forthcoming election must count.

Efforts to reach the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Honour Sirawoo, to react to the ADC’s allegations against the state government failed as he did not answer calls.

Sirawoo had yet to reply to a text message sent to his mobile phone by our correspondent as of the time of filing this report on Monday afternoon.