PRESS STATEMENT
WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF ALL DETAINED PERSONS AND AN END TO OUTRAGEOUS AND UNJUSTIFIABLE ELECTRICITY BILLS
The community people, mostly women and youths in the Tolu area of Ajegunle, Apapa Lagos led by socialists and rights activists trooped out in a peaceful protest against outrageous (crazy) electricity billing issued to community residents by Eko Distribution Company. Rather than attend to the demands of the protesting community people, the Nigeria Police of the Tolu Divisional Police on the orders of the management of Eko Distribution Company arrested and detained the peaceful protesters. Notable among the arrested persons are Moshood Oshunfurewa (Coordinator of the Ajegunle Peoples Movement, APM), Lateef Adams (member of the Movement for Socialist Alternative), Emeka Bosah (Coordinator of Ajeromi Ifelodun Community Movement, AICOM), Mrs Stella Edegwa (Community activist), Joseph Chukwudi, Mrs Nana Gloria, Mrs Rose, and 3 others.
The Eko Distribution Company just like the other private electricity companies is notorious for issuing unjustified and outrageous electricity bills to amass huge profits. In a country with N30,000 minimum wage, these electricity companies sometimes issue electricity bills to the poor communities for tens of thousands of Naira. This has been the root cause of huge debts hanging on the neck of many residents across the country.
Since November 2013 when the power sector was privatized, communities have been plunged into darkness while tariff has gone up steadily. The power companies have also refused to issue prepaid meters to residents in order to issue fraudulent estimated bills.
In order to sustain this exploitation, the electricity companies rely on the capitalist government and its state agents of repression, particularly the Nigerian Police whose men and women have often used brute force against peaceful and innocent protesters. Many community residents and activists are currently facing trumped-up charges in different courts. We demand an end to police arrest, detention, and attacks on innocent community people and activists.
Coalition for Affordable and Regular Electricity (CARE) demands the immediate and unconditional release of the detained protesters.
We appeal to working people, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and pro-people organizations in Nigeria and internationally to join the campaign for their immediate and unconditional release of the protesters.
Family members and members of different pro-labour organizations have visited the Tolu Divisional Police Station but the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Etuk Akanyene refused to release the peaceful protesters, apparently, the order from the Eko Distribution Company is to brutalize, detain and eventually charge the protesters to court on trumped-up charges.
We appeal for protest calls and messages to be sent to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodu Alabi (08033432264) and Tolu Divisional Police Officer, CSP Etuk Akanyene (08034448617) with a call to release all protesters.
SIGNED:
Chinedu Bosah Shoyombo Monsuru
National Coordinator National Secretary
Why PDP Will Sweep The Polls In Ogoniland – Dekor
As campaigns intensify ahead of the forthcoming general elections, the lawmaker representing Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Dumnamene Robinson Dekor has declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will sweep the polls not only in Gokana Local Government Area but in Ogoni land at large.
Rt. Hon. Dekor who made the declaration while speaking to journalists at the PDP Campaign rally in Gokana on Wednesday, said the huge turnout of Ogoni people at the Khana and Gokana PDP rallies showed that no other party but the PDP exists in Ogoniland.
Rt. Hon. Dekor who is the House Committee Chairman on Host Communities and the PDP Candidate for Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency described the Gokana rally as another huge success as according to him, the people turned out in their thousands to declare that Ogoni is PDP and PDP is Ogoni.
“I give thanks and glory to God Almighty for making it possible for us to gather in Gokana today. As usual, it’s a mammoth crowd. All I can say to the people of Gokana is to continue voting for the PDP.
“They should vote for Siminialayi Fubara for Governor; vote Barry Mpigi for the Senate, and vote for my humble self, Rt. Hon. Dumnamene Robinson Dekor for the House of Representatives.
They should also vote Hon. Dumle Maol into the Rivers State House of Assembly”, he told the people.
Rt. Hon. Dum Dekor, a one-time Deputy Speaker in the Rivers State House of Assembly, as well as former Works Commissioner in the state, said he can confidently seek block votes from Ogoni people because the PDP has done well for Ogonis.
“You find some small parties who have no trace of performance in the various offices they had occupied since 1999. They have been in public offices but have nothing to show that they have been in public office.
“So, we asked the people to vote right because this time, they are not going to bring soldiers or police to intimidate us. They cannot hire thugs and arm them against us”, he said, adding that the game is up for the “enemies of Ogoni” as they would be up against the will of the people which he asserted, would always prevail.
On the level of confidence he has for the people of Gokana and Ogoni in general, Rt. Hon. Dum Dekor enthused: ” Yes, I’ve always been confident that the people of Gokana and the rest of Ogoni will vote massively for the PDP and today’s turnout is a testament to that fact. So, we have no issues that Ogoni will vote for the PDP”.
2023 Ogoni Governorship: Facts and Fictions
It was Sean Hughes who defined a politician as ‘a person who has nothing to say but says it anyway’.
Though the definition is one parochial prism of seeing a politician, it nonetheless captures the true image of the like of Kennedy Friday, real or pseudo name of the political acolyte who displayed the depth of his ignorance of politics and by extension, democracy while responding to Rt. Hon. Dum Dekor’s innocuous statement at the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) campaign rally in Gokana Local Government Area, Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
While we will not want to join issues with anybody, it suffice to say that in a democracy you can say whatever you like as long as you do what you are told.
Politics, we know is the art of seeking legitimate power through a political party to direct public affairs or be in charge of government policies. To achieve this, one has to belong to one of the numerous political parties registered and accredited by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as it relates to Nigeria .
This fact is what is lost on some emergency political commentators and tribal jingoists who see any opinion that differs from theirs as a confrontation and, or assault on the sensibilities of ‘their own people’.
While Rt. Hon. Dum Dekor was speaking and canvassing for votes at the said rally, he passionately appealed to the people to keep voting for the PDP which has the largest presence in the area and Ogoni at large.
Rightly too, the PDP government has benefitted Ogoni in many ways which evidence are visible in infrastructural developments.
Besides, the zoning of governorship position is not and has never been done on ethnic basis but on the basis of senatorial districts.
Presently, the PDP governorship candidate in the person of Sir Siminalayi Fubara is a bonafide son of Rivers South-East to which Ogoni eminently belongs, thus making him our own son and should therefore be seen as such and voted for.
This is the import of Rt. Hon. Dum Dekor’s message. At no time did the honourable federal lawmaker say Ogoni is not ripe to produce a governor in 2023.
This is a true case of giving a dog a bad name to find cause to kill him. The truth is that the PDP has chosen a governorship candidate for the 2023 election and it will be foolhardy for the Ogoni not to join the moving train simply because the candidate who is from the same senatorial district as Ogoni, and the nearest community (Opobo) is the party’s flag bearer.
That, to Rt. Hon. Dekor, amounts to political suicide in the face of the fact that no other political party in the state outside the PDP as of today is well positioned to win the 2023 general elections in the state. This is just the bitter truth these political dreamers do not want to accept.
The 2023 general elections will not be the last elections in the state or Nigeria. All that is important is for the Ogonis to continue to unite and have a sense of purpose and whichever party through which the Ogoni gets what is due her, so be it.
Unfortunately, these political desperadoes would not let this be, simply because ‘if it is not we’ then it cannot be.
This is a very wrong approach to politics.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Rt. Hon. Dum Dekor is one of the finest political office holders Ogoni has produced in recent times.
He has not only demonstrated capacity at the National Assembly where he serves as the House Committee Chairman for Host Communities, he has also visibly and compassionately impacted lives of numerous Ogoni youths, women and elders indiscriminately. What else could be the essence of political representation and what else do these blackmailers and visionless agitators wish to do differently?
Notwithstanding, may we use this opportunity to advise the good people of Ogoni once again, to discountenance this antics of scoring cheap political points by those who do not mean well for Ogoniland and vote rightly for the PDP governorship candidate and for candidates of the National and State Assemblies in 2023 general elections.
God willing, at the right time, and very soon too, the great Ogoniland will produce a Governor which is our collective dream.
But to be a good leader, we must first be a good follower.
Signed:
Rt. Hon. Dum Dekor Media Team