Thank God the report has been submitted. Since November 27^th 2007, when the Commission was set up, so much has been said in the open and in other places. Many people doubted the reasons behind the setting up of the Commission despite all explanations. I have even heard some people who have said that this Commission's report will go the way of other Commissions set up which produced reports in the past that did not see the light of the day. However, Justice Eso and his team have completed the tasks assigned them and dutifully submitted their report to the Rivers State Governor.

We have also heard Governor Amaechi on his receipt of the report about his desire to implement the recommendations. He has assured the people of the state that his government will not lack the courage and honesty to implement the report of the Commission. He has therefore given himself a challenge and we should support him and pray that God Almighty that brought him to the seat of power will also guide him with abundance of wisdom to carry out this task.

Rt. Hon Amaechi needs abundance of wisdom because, the initial impression and mind set of some of the people called to testify has not changed and I do not see it changing easily. There is too much at stake in Rivers State especially politically and financially!! This is the Treasure base of the nation. It will therefore be a Herculean task for our ‘stubborn’ Governor to speak power to the truth as a friend of mine will put it. He has to be steadfast in his desire. This is one report which implementation will form a yardstick that will be used to judge him in future. It is going to test his personal relationship with his kit and kin as well as his Christian faith. It will bring out the statesmanship in him and the whole world will be watching. God help him.

Did the Commission really do a thorough job on the crises in Rivers State and unearthing the albatross of a state asking for what her citizens can do for her? This will be known when details of the report are published for public appraisal. The initial statements seem to be putting blame on the past Chief Executive of the State- Sir Dr peter Odili. It is usually said that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. So even if Sir Dr Odili tells people that he tried his best, it is apparent that his best was probably not good enough. Could he have done things differently? Only he can answer such a question with hindsight. The Government should therefore endeavour to quickly make the report accessible to all and sundry. Whatever the full details of the recommendations are; I believe that there will be certain aspects if well implemented that could be ending a sad era of restiveness and culture of violence in the state. This will inadvertently spread to other parts of the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole.

At the background to any peace and reconciliation is forgiveness. There is therefore need for forgiveness and it should start with the political elites in the state i.e. those who have held power who now reside outside the state, those who are holding power and those who want power. It is apparent that to forgive requires more than the offender owning up to wrong doing. Even in the face of obvious denial of wrong doing, forgiveness is necessary to move forward. It is not surprising that the commission identified politics as one of the immediate causes of the crisis in the state as politics was unfortunately turned into business of winner takes all, and so the politicians believed they must protect their business at all costs. This is still going on even as we speak!! This needs to change. Reports like this give the illusion of victor and vanquished leading to grandstanding. There should therefore be no need for grandstanding because it will not help us. No body should see himself as having won a battle in this our predicament. Many of us have been wounded and are still being wounded in one way or the other. The business of state governance requires a large heart. I believe Amaechi has shown he has one so far. There will also be a need for information managers and those who speak on behalf of the power brokers and other politicians to reduce the barrages and counter barrages of accusations and counter accusations as well as uncut languages used to describe persons if we have to move forward. We have to respect our selves.

One recommendation is the proscription of cult groups in Rivers State. This is a welcome recommendation and should be implemented to the letter. It should however not end there. Government should work with churches and religious organizations as there are adult cult members who do not carry guns. They are in the various secret societies and use their positions and relationships to oppress and entrench themselves in public offices. These people are also sponsors of the young cult members and need to be flushed out.

The commission noted that the root cause of most of the problems we are facing today is the awareness created in Rivers people and other Niger Delta indigenes when they saw how Abuja is. Rivers State is a mini Nigeria. Minority groups are shoved to the sides when it comes to sharing political offices in the various local government areas. In some local government areas, only a single town occupies all the political offices and gets all the juicy appointments. These are the areas that also need to be addressed. We cry in the Niger Delta because of oppression by larger sections of the country when we lay the golden egg. However, even in our back yard this practice is going on.  Justice Eso and his team have provided us a template to work on. The responsibility is now ours as a people to work towards achieving a society where justice, fairness and equality will prevail. God help us in River State.

Robot  # 1 | 12.03.2009 23:32

Thank God the report has been submitted. Since November 27th 2007, when the Commission was set up, so much has been said in the open and in other places. Many people doubted the reasons behind the setting up of the Commission. ...Read the full article.

olusiji  # 2 | 13.03.2009 02:34

We have also heard Governor Amaechi on his receipt of the report about his desire to implement the recommendations. He has assured the people of the state that his government will not lack the courage and honesty to implement the report of the Commission. He has therefore given himself a challenge and we should support him and pray that God Almighty that brought him to the seat of power will also guide him with abundance of wisdom to carry out this task. Rotimi Amechi was speaker for many years in Rivers State and a right hand man of Governor Odili. He saw nothing wrong when crimes were being planned and executed by those he now fight. Between them, they turned Rivers to a land of cult groups, kidnapers and murderers. How he can suddenly turn around to undue an irreversible situation as exists in that part of the Country is a lesson we wait patiently to unravel. His motive for setting up the commission is suspect, his moral strength to pursue the recommendations without bias is questionable

Abraxas  # 3 | 16.03.2009 00:40

Hi, folks! It is indeed a tragedy that Dr. Peter Odili, a guy who escalated from running a failed ten-bed cottage hospital that could barely break even, to governing a state that received an average of 15 billion naira EVERY single month, for 96 good months, would today sit pretty in his spider hole in Abuja, and indulge in baseless shakara, and unnecessary gra-gra, after grossly mismanaging the affairs of Rivers State to near destruction. Worse still, is his rather unfortunate and reckless overindulgence in verbal diarrhoea, raining all manner of snide remarks, rude aspersions, and vitriolic innuendos on the person of a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice Kayode Eso, all in a futile attempt at wriggling out of the Pandora's Box that he very painstakingly designed and constructed. Here is a guy, whose unrepentantly "anti-Mbammiri" Imo State-born and bred wife, and chief source of error in his life, moved from being a mere local magistrate, to being a High Court judge in Port Harcourt, the very moment he, Dr. Peter Odili, became a Deputy Governor (under Chief Rufus Ada-George) in 1992, and also later propelled herself into the Federal Court of Appeal in Abuja, the moment he had a brainwave to join the presidential race (to Nowhere!) It is absofuckinglutely unbelievable to even imagine that Dr. Peter Odili, (and whosoever may want to sheepishly follow him in his robust display of wilful and selective amnesia, under the inebriating influence of extreme megalomania), would have the nerve, indeed, the brazen impudence, to boldly stare straight into the eyes of Nigerians, especially the good people of Rivers State, and remain UNREPENTANT, INTRANSIGENT, and mindlessly ABUSIVE. Let him be reminded that even Alhaji Umaru Dikko, with all his over-confidence about his capacity to launch caustic abuses at the Federal Government of Nigeria, from the safety of self-exile in the UK, even Chief Dan Etete, with all his over-confidence about his capacity to arrogantly bad-mouth the Federal Government of Nigeria, from the safety of self-exile in France, even Biafran General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Ikemba Nnewi, Eze Gburugburu NdiIgbo, General of de Pipul), with all his braggadocio about his capacity to confront the Federal Government of Nigeria, from the safety of self-exile in Cote D'Ivoire, ALL learned certain fundamental lessons of life, which most neophytes (like Peter Odili) easily take for granted: There is more to life than a fat bank account! Not all the shot-term benefits of unrestrained treasury looting can buy you peace of mind! It is not how fat your bank account is that can guarantee your peace of mind. An unproductive life in self-exile, sustained by the dividends of treasury looting, is tantamount to life in purgatory, on earth! There is no safety in numbers, no matter how much sycophants would want you to believe. In short, agaracha must to return back. 29 May 2009 will mark 24 months of voluntary withdrawal from the centre of gravity of the decision-making status quo of Rivers State for Sir (Dr.) Peter Odili (JP, KSJ), Sir (Barr.) Celestine Omehia (JP; KSM), Sir (Dr.) Abiye Sekibo (JP; Knight of the Methodist Church), Sir (Barr.) Austin Opara (JP; Knight of the Anglican Church), and others, all of them currently holed up in self-imposed political quarantine in Abuja and elsewhere. Definitely, this is the route to self-imposed irrelevance in the politics of Rivers State, as far as I can see. Let us give them another two or six years of wilful ostracism and the rest will be history: AGARCHA MUST TO RETURN BACK. No shaking! MORAL: Hi, folks! No matter what crime you may have committed, PLEASE do not ever contemplate SELF-EXILE as an option to being brought to justice. It is like HELL ON EARTH, especially for those addicted to ego massaging and fixated on sycophants: the long and torturous journey into self-imposed total socio-political irrelevance begins with SELF-EXILE! If in doubt, ask Alhaji Umaru Dikko! Muchas gracias. Don Juan-Carlos ABRAXAS (III)