***Warns against imposition of candidate
BY DIENGE RUFUS, Port Harcourt
Ahead of the October 5 local government area election in Rivers state, there has been a major crack in the political family of Governor Siminialayi Fubara, popularly known as the SIMplified Movement
This is as some members of the movement have threatened to revolt again the governor as they have warned against his rumoured endorsement of certain candidates for the election
Members of the SIMplified Movement in Bonny local government warned that they would reject the reported endorsement of any candidate ahead of the el9
The group which noted that the Governor has remained a democrat in all his dealings and battle to give Rivers people his, urged that members of the movement should be given free hand to seek the People’s mandate at the upcoming local government area election, irrespective of their political affiliations, noting that SIMplified Movement cuts across political parties
The group which announced their endorsement of Ambassador Dagogo Fubara for the Bonny championship election warned the governor to expect a major showdown in the election as they would mobilize seriously to deliver Fubara, who they asked to move to the opposition New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the interest of Bonny people
The aggrieved Simplified Movement members, who would not want their names on print insisted that Ambassador Fubara is the chosen candidate adding that they took a united decision to call him out to run to save Bonny local government area
Assuring that they will massively move in to deliver the NNPP candidate, they reminded Governor Fubara that the Simplified members cut across political parties
The group reminded the governor that they had solidly remained thick and thin with him in his battle with a group of cabal who want to destabilize the state, and warned him to refrain from imposing any candidate in Bonny LGA as that could damage his image and integrity considering his current situation in the state
“Bonny SIMplified Movement members will be out for a showdown with either Governor Sim Fubara of the House of Assembly Speaker of they make any move to impose any candidate on the people ahead of this election
“We the stakeholders, after studying the low state of development in our local government area, called out Ambassador Dagogo Fubara to to come and rescue the local government, we have keyed solidly behind Ambassador Dagogo Fubara, who also is a member of the SIMplified movement as he runs under the platform of NNPP, that is where we advised him to move into
“We therefore warn our Governor and the Speaker who is also one of us not to allow a repeat of what happened in 2011 in Bonny LGA, when the people rejected the imposition of a candidate by the then governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, which drastically affected the performance of the PDP in that election,” a member of the movement warned
Recall that it was an alleged imposition of a candidate by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bonny local government area election in 2011 that almost caused a major upset for the party in the election
The then immediate past Chairman of Bonny Local Government Council, Hon. Edward E. Pepple, who was said to had been imposed on the LG by then governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi was however declared winner of the local government election in the area.
Hon. Pepple scored 7,305 votes to beat his closest rival and his former vice chairman, Adonye Wilcox who contested on the platform of the National Unity Party (NUP) and scored 5,610 votes to come second.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) similarly won eight out of the 12 wards in the councillorship election, while the National Unity Party (NUP) won four councillorship seats.
