Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Rivers South East Senatorial District at the yet to be concluded legislative re-run election in Rivers State has charged the people of Yeghe community in Gokana Local Government Area to take their destiny in their hands by restoring peace through rejecting the extermination of their people by criminals in the community.
Speaking at the funeral service in honour of Late Chief Hon (Dr.) Vincent Elvin Eebee, a lecturer in the Ken Saro Wiwa Polythenic, Bori, who was recently assassinated, Abe explained that nobody has the power to kill everybody in the community.
“Be bold and courageous. Nobody can kill everybody; that person does not exist. Nobody is bigger than the laws of the Federal republic of Nigeria. No juju is bigger than God Almighty. And so, all these will come to a timely end.”
He said the only way the people can reject what is happening is to expose these criminal activities openly so that the criminals would have no hiding place.
In so doing, Abe said, Dr. Eebee would not have died in vain as he died for speaking the truth.
He condemned the attitude of some people in the community who have refused to speak the truth, pointing out that they would live to regret their actions.
He said those people are the ones fighting the unity, peace and progress of the land for selfish reasons.
“They are the ones that are fighting the spirit of the land. Where is the chief of Yeghe community? Late Eebee was a chief here. Why is the chief of the community not here? This is the kind of community that you are breeding here today. Those who are promoting education are killed while those who are putting children in the bush with guns become the lords of the community. They are the ones who decide who will live and die. But, it will not work that way.”
The former Secretary to the Rivers State Government frowned at the incessant killings in Yeghe community and cited the cases of late Clement Faa, Pius Gbarasia, Barine Court, Chief Moses, the town crier of the community and many others who were killed by gunfire.
“Today, Yeghe community is a place where a man who has a Ph.D will be gunned down on the field of Yeghe and people who have guns will live. What is happening in Yeghe is a statistical impossibility. Out of a population of how many that how many people will be killed by gunfire. Check it, there is no other community that this number of people have been killed by guns. What is the crime of these people that they cannot live their lives in this community?”
Abe reiterated that there must be peace in Yeghe community and indeed in Ogoni land, pointing out that the people know the perpetrators but live in fear.
“Yeghe was a peaceful place. This was a prosperous place. This was a place where everybody could come and feel at home. I grew up in this place. My father lived here. I know the town very well. The vision that the fathers of this community had have been bastardized. Those who are doing this will live to regret it. There must be change here”.
He said it was because of the encouragement of these heinous crimes that he alleged that it was a sponsored genocide against Ogoni people.
Abe urged Governor Nyesome Wike to do the needful and help this community to enjoy peace.
He stated that he heard on radio where the governor said he had directed the military to go after criminality in the state and appealed to him to be sincere.
“Let it not just be words for today. Let it be words backed by action that will be consistent; where we will show that the protection of lives and property of the people of Rivers state is more important than politics. I want to appeal to the governor that his being in office should not create a situation where people cannot freely express their opinions, live their lives and pursue their own dreams because he being a governor is a dream that he has pursued. Those children who want to go to school; those women who want to go to the market; Dr. Eebee who wanted to build his house and support the church; they all have their dreams and they should be allowed to pursue their dreams in peace”.
Earlier, while reading the biography of her late husband, Mrs. Tambari Vycent Eebee, in an emotionally laden voice, said her late husband ran to the community for safety but unknown to him that the community was a lion’s den.
“While in the quest to continuously add value to humanity, his life was cut short by the enemies of progress through gun shots on Thursday 21st of April, 2016 in his very home town, Bua Yeghe while returning from work at the Polythenic, Bori. What a tragedy and what an irony that where you ran to as a safe haven was unknown to you a lion’s den”.
Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Chief Tony Okocha, Chief Victor Giadom, Hon. Morris Pronen, Hon. Dr. Innocent Barikor were among other top party chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who attended the burial ceremony.
Meanwhile, Senator Abe has paid condolence visit to the families of Late Mr. Charles Etukpo, a lecturer, Mr. Itaagha Barineka, a marketing HND 11 student of Ken Saro Wiwa Polythenic, Bori and Mr. John Igbara, in Bori.
It would be recalled that the trio were killed by gunmen suspected to be the same killing machine ravaging the Ogoni land.
