7th December, 2019
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and erstwhile Publicity Secretary of the defunct new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has expressed displeasure over actions and comments credited to the Chairman, Senate Joint Committee on Navy, Marine Transport and Finance, Senator George Thompson Sekibo, where he called for the arrest of the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside for sending a representative of the agency at the committee’s hearing.
Senator George Sekibo had rejected Mr. Haruna Argungu, a Principal Legal Officer of NIMASA who made an appearance for Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the Director-General of the agency at the Committee’s hearing, insisting that Peterside must appear in person to answer for the agency.
The insistence on the appearance Dakuku an act Chief Eze dismissed as totally incongruous and unacceptable, stressing that Dr. Peterside reserves the right to mandate an official of the agency to make such representation owing to the fact that all actions incidental to the businesses of the agency are taken collectively and as such, any official can answer and defend the agency in whatever capacity.
Eze said “it is sad and unfortunate that Senator George Sekibbo, a three-time Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should allow the local and dirty politics of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State to take a sizeable portion of his sense of reasoning as not to understand that an officer of an Agency can represent his Principal in any inquiry or probe”.
Describing the action as a move to besmirch Dr. Peterside and take the gilt off the gingerbread, Eze said, Haruna’s appearance for the agency is testamentary to the height of prudence and sense of sincerity domiciled within the agency and further reveals participatory democracy in display in the management of NIMASA by Dr. Peterside.
Dismissing claims by Senator Sekibo that Dr. Dakuku Perterisde is on the run, Eze said the NIMASA DG was out of the country, attending an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) conference where he made a case for Nigeria to be voted into the IMO Council Category C.
The Media stalwart challenged Senator Sekibo to channel his energy towards meaningful ventures, such as providing quality representation to his constituents who are impoverished daily by the state government instead of engaging in mere trivialities. He said one would have loved to see a situation where the Rivers-born Senator made a case against the fanfare of squandermania in Rivers state where the state government has left the people in squalor without a hint of remorse.
Chief Eze frowned at Senator Sekibo for attempting to conscript the Nigerian Senate into the politics of smear campaign against public servants of Rivers origin which is the foundation and penchant of the Peoples Democratic Party in the State.
He urged members of the Joint Committee to be wary of being inveigled into a situation in which they find themselves becoming partisan agents of wrongdoers in the pursuit of their selfish private vendetta.
Eze commended Dr. Dakuku Peterside for quickly appearing before the Joint Committee on Navy, Airforce and Marine Transport on his return to Nigeria on Thursday, to clarify the committee on every grey areas notwithstanding his busy schedules. While lauding the NIMASA DG for adopting a pragmatic approach towards problems management, Chief Eze said Dakuku remains a global brand whose sense of patriotism and national spirit cannot be overemphasized.
Eze highlighted that with the prompt appearance of this Administrator par excellence before the Senate Committee on Navy thereby debunking the erroneous impression that he is on the run, one expects Senator George Sekibo to publicly apologise to this genius from Rivers State for attempting to rubbish his hard-earned credibility and integrity.
The party chieftain expressed his felicitations with the NIMASA DG for bagging yet another meritorious award from the Nigerian Chartered Institute of Transport Administrators (CIOTA) upon his return to the country after the International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference, where he made a brilliant representation for Nigeria.
He said men and women of goodwill must not sit back and watch mischief-makers ruin the efforts of those who are committed to setting the country on the path of progress. Eze further appealed to the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Ahmed Lawan to be mindful of PDP Senators like Sekibo, who are much more concerned to doing the biddings of Gov. Wike no matter how inimical such a bidding can be on the progress and future of Rivers State and Nigeria at large.